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TWEN TY-FIRST LEGISLA TURE. 

NO. 19. SSXT ATZ:. 



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REPORT 



COM M I T T E E 



ON T K E cJ^v 



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NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY 



Severance &. Dorr, Printers to the State. 



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The Joint Select Committee upon the state of the North- 
Eastern Boundary, to wliom were referred so much of the 
Governor's Address as relates to that subject, and also the 
Message from the late Governor, communicating his corres- 
pondence with the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick 
and the President of the United States, together with certain 
Resolutions of the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, 
transmitted by the late Governor to the Legislature, at the late 
adjourned session, and certain Resolutions of the General 
Assembly of the State of Alabama, and certain Resolutions 
of the Legislature of Maryland just transmitted by the Gov- 
ernor at the present session, and also certain Resolves, originat- 
ing in the House of Representatives and in the Senate respect- 
ively, for repelling foreign invasion and providing for the 
])rotcction of the State, and certain other Resolves from the 
Senate, respecting purposes of defence — have had the same 
under consideration, and now ask leave to submit the following 

REPORT; 

When Maine assumed her plarc in the Union, and became 
an independent Stale, she adopted the Pole Star as her ensign. 
This well known point adorned her crest ; and it appropriately 
surmounted her shield. It signified that she intended to be true 
to the Constitution and the country ; and that she determined, 
more than all, to be true to herself. From that direction she 
has not consciously departed. To that determination she will 
always be faithful. She does not mean to swerve from her 
path. She has frequently had occasion to express her Re- 



4 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [Miireli 

solves ; and circumstances have arisen to test the firmness of 
her princijjles and purposes. She is now called upon to do so 
aijain; and she is ohlit^ed to meet the emergency. 

We have come this year to one of those larger cycles of 
time, at which the State is called, hy the forms of the Consti- 
tution, to fulfd some of its most vital organic functions ; and 
among them returns the more frequent concern of attending to 
the grave subject of its long unsettled boundary. 

The line which divided the ancient Commonwealth of Mas- 
sachusetts from what once belonged to her by her original 
charter, east of the St. Croix, was one drawn due north. That 
river had been considered as the eastern boundary, ever since 
the Peace of llyswick; and this line would have gone, as it 
was extended upon Mitchell's map, to the St. Lawrence, if it 
had not been for the terms of the Treaty of 1783, which were 
the same, in that respect, as those of the Proclamation of 1763. 
Those were " the highlands that divide the rivers that empty 
" themselves into the St. Lawrence from those that fall into the 
" Atlantic Ocean," or Sea. That highland descriptive boun- 
dary was, at that time, perfectly well known and established, 
geographically, historically, and politically. Geography, his- 
tory, the public records of the acts of the Crown and Parlia- 
ment of Great Britain, still standing among her chronicles, all 
alike attest the trutli and verity of the description ; which, it 
may be observed, subsequent, and even recent, exjilorations 
of the face of nature, in that region, wiih the perhaps super- 
fluous aids and lights of modern science, have only served to 
illustrate and confirm. 

The colemporaneous Acts of the British Crown, in 1763, 
establishing the Governments of Quebec and Nova Scotia, 
formed that abutment, then created for the first time, called the 
North-west Angle of Nova Scotia, which was adopted and 
fixed by the Treaty of 17S3, as the first bound to begin at, of 
the United States. This point was considered so clear, in 
the words of the Treaty, as to prevent all dispute. 



1811.] SENATE.— No. 19. 5 

The Bay of Chaleurs and the river Restigouche, or one ot 
its branches, (which are merely sources of tliat Bay) has 
always been regarded as the practical hne of demarcation and 
jurisd'clion between the two contiguous Provinces of New 
Brunswick and Lower Canada. Tlie North West Angle of Nova 
Scotia had not been definitely ascertained. Wherever a point 
of highland could be found, upon the meridian north of the St. 
John, properly parting waters that went into the St. Lawrence and 
the Atlantic, there might be ground for tracing and applying 
that term. Some doubt was expressed, for the first time, on 
the part of the British Commissioners, in the negotiations 
which took place previous to the Treaty of Ghent, whether 
that small portion of unsettled country, which interrupted the 
communication between Quebec and Halifax, did not already 
belong to Great Britain. This doubt was only raised, at a 
late moment, for the purpose apparently of soliciting a cession 
(for which an equivalent had been previously tendered and de- 
clined) of at least that portion of unoccupied territory. 

Long before this time, after the Peace of 1783, there had 
been a settlement formed upon the banks of the river Madawas- 
ka, by some Acadian fugitives, who had been expelled from 
the Province of Nova Scotia, and again routed from their next 
place of refuge in l^sew Brunswick, to this tlien sequestered spot, 
where they were joined by a few French Canadians — far, as 
they supposed, from further trouble and molestation. The 
point respecting the source of the St. Croix was determined 
under the Treaty Convention of 1794, which finally provided 
for the surrender of all posts held after the peace. Previous 
to this period, before that point was determined, the Common- 
wealth of Massachusetts caused the survey and running of a 
line of a large tract of its territory, commencing from the 
Schoodic lakes, and extending, upon the magnetic north across 
the St. John, above its junction with the INIadawuska. Tin's 
was an undertaking of great arduousness, and was attended with 
extreme suffering to the party employed, who came near per- 



6 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [March 

ishing in the woods. The eastern hue ran about 150 miles, 
and went as much as fifteen miles over upon the North side of 
the St. John. The surveying party, there much exhausted, 
turned aside to the first highlands they found towards the "West, 
mistaking the tributary streams of the river Madawaska and its 
lakes for rivers emptying into the St. Lawrence. The pro- 
ceeding was begun in 1792, and the plan on which this survey 
is exhibited, by Park Holland, was executed as early as 1793 
or 1794. The right of crossing the St. John was recognized 
and confirmed, after completing the Convention of 1794, 
respecting the St. Croix, by the British Minister residing in 
the United States, to whose advice the operation of it was 
referred, and who regarded it as a theme of congratulation, that 
thereby, in consequence of the arrangement which he recom- 
mended, the line would cross the St. John above the Grand 
Falls, Vvhcre it would be less prejudicial in any respect, and 
more beneficial, on the whole, to the interest of Great Britain, 
and the integrity of her dominions. Previous to this period 
the Provincial Government of iSew Brunswick had undertaken, 
probably without being aware of any wrong, to make grants or 
confirmations to French settlers at Madawaska. But it was 
also at the same time necessarily and indeed actually acknowl- 
edged by the ofilcial authorities of New Brunswick, that the 
North-Wcstern Boundary of that Province extended across the 
St. John, and was claimed to the southern highland boundary 
of Quebec. 

Massachusetts, it is well known, cominued after this period, 
in the undoubted exercise of her eminent domain, to extend 
her grants and surveys into this region, on both sides of the 
Aroostook, and thus into the proper valley of the St. John. 
This went on until the work of settlement and improvement, 
impeded in some measure by disadvantages of distance, and 
want of convenient approach and communication, was inter- 
rupted, and suspended, by the breaking out of the war in 1812. 
The delay to have the true line drawn between the two eov- 



1841.] SENATE.— No. I'J 7 

ernments of the United States and Great Britain was one cause 
among those which operated niuterially to retard the growth of 
Maine, and the prosperity of Massachusetts, in that direction. 
Conventional agreements, for this purpose, were negotiated 
between the two national governments, by their public diplomatic 
agents, one in 1803, and the other in 1806. The first was 
rejected by the Senate, and the other by the President, on 
account of matters with which they were connected, having 
nothing to do with this subject. 

From this period, and from this indefinite state of things 
upon that border, may be dated, with propriety, that usurpation 
which the British Provincial authorities began, progressively, 
to exercise in that quarter, rendered more easy and accessible 
to them by the avenue of the St. John, over the peaceful and 
unresisting population of ^Madawaska. For these purposes the 
point was more approachable by the authorities upon the side 
of New Brunswick, although the absurdity of such a preten- 
sion was apparent, even as between that Province and Lower 
Canada; and was manifested by a map of the territory published 
by authority of Parliament in 1827, as well as by other subse- 
quent British maps. The privilege which was enjoyed, of a 
more direct communication than they were entitled to, by this 
route, across the corner of our territory, was one never denied, 
or even objected to, and drawn into controversy, until it was 
first challenged as a sort of acquired right, and arrogated as an 
absolute pretension. Its germ first developed itself in the 
ambiguous and circuitous forms of expression, by which the 
British negotiators went about to accomplish some point of this 
kind at Ghent. 

Maine entered the Union in 1819, without any apprehension, 
or even suspicion, that her material rights, as an independent 
State, entitled to certain limits, and that her title especially to 
a large part of her territory, derived from the Treaty of Inde- 
pendence, if of no prior origin, and as released and confirmed 
to her, upon her separation, by Massachusetts, were called 



g NOHTH-RASTRRN BOLXDARY. f March 

into (jueslion, or \vere capable of being drawn into controversy. 
The first census of the United States taken after our admis- 
sion into the Union, in 1820, enobraced the settlement of Mad- 
awaska ; and one of the first Acts passed by the Legislature of 
this State, in the same year, was a Resolve earnestly calling 
the attention of the National Government to this subject, not 
then brought to a close, as it was understood, by any definite 
proceeding of the Commission established under iha provision 
of the Treaty of Ghent. It was sometime afterwards discov- 
ered that, by some singular oversigiit, or obliquity, or, if it 
may more properly be so deemed, mistake, on the part of 
those who were employed in this business on behalf of the 
United States, some change or transmutation of the subject 
was permitted to take place, and thenceforward fatally perplex 
all future proceedings under that Commission. The agents, 
on both sides, were unquestionably most respectable and ac- 
complished persons, who devoted themselves with eminent zeal 
to the interests of their respective Governments, as those inter- 
ests presented themselves to their minds. But it may be 
deemed to have been among the misfortunes attending the 
devious course of proceeding adopted since the Treaty of 
Ghent, that the agents on the part of the respective Govern- 
ments were composed on one side entirely, of natives of this 
country who had adhered to the cause of Great Britain at the 
Revolution, and that no citizen of the section principally con- 
cerned, namely, of JNIassachusetts, was employed by the United 
States. The consequence of this inadvertence was, that the 
agents of Great Britain were permitted to stop and assume a po- 
sition at Mars Hill, a solitary and isolated projection, rising to a 
height uncalled for by the Treaty, unaccompanied by any of 
the circumstances of the description, and destitute of a single 
feature of it — even to that solitary pre-eminence which is so 
entirely unlike a general highland conformation. Without en- 
quiring how this happened, or undertaking to say what the 
American agents ought to have done under these circumstances, 



1S41.1 SENATE— No. 19. 9 

and whether they ought not to have refused to proceed, and to 
have protested at once against the total departure from the rule 
of proceeding required by the Treaty, it is not too much to 
say, that all further labor after this was worse than lost, and 
thrown away. The whole of this proceeding was, thencefor- 
ward, conducted and carried on to its unfortunate termination, 
without any privity or knowledge on the part of Massachusetts 
or any of her authorities ; and by a sequel, which was hardly, 
perhaps, contemplated as a consequence of this solecism, (al- 
lowing the stoppage at Mars Hill) an enormous and sudden 
expansion afterwards took place of what assumed the specious 
form, and obtained the factitious denomination, of the British 
claim to about one third of the territory of Maine — a tract 
which thereby acquired the designation, too easily allowed to 
pass into use, of Disputed Territory ; and it is needless to say 
that this circumstance has since proved to be pregnant with the 
utmost mischief to the State, and to have been the prolific 
source of almost every variety of evil to its peace and pros- 
perity. It turns out, by the recent brilliant scientific explora- 
tion of Major Graham, as was insisted at the time when the 
pretence was brought to light, that the true line from the Mon- 
ument does not even touch Mars Hill, but leaves it quite to 
the west, upon our side, and within the limits of INIaine. 
This false and preposterous position, indeed, has been recently 
treated by respectable British writers, who are still not willing 
to yield to the whole force of the American claim of right in 
all its extent, in publications of ability, as entirely untenable 
and destitute of pretext. Mars Hill remains, and will stand 
for ages, a monument of the gigantic and monstrous absurdity of 
this audacious assumption. 

It is, no doubt, to be regretted that the Government of the 
United States should have found this subject in such a state, 
from the result of the Commission under the 5th Article of 
the Treaty of Ghent, as to be obliged apparently to recognize 
and to give color to this extravagant claim, by the perhaps una- 
2 



10 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY, [March 

voidable form of ilic Convention negotiated at London, in 
1827, for referring the question to an umpire. 

It was at this moment, we may remark, that Maine suddcnlj- 
saw the sword suspended, as it were, over her head; or per- 
liaps we should more fitly say, wiien she beheld the scales 
about to be put into the hand of an arbiter, whose acknowl- 
edged bias would be, the same whether King or farmer, to 
split the difference. Another circumstance, not calculated to 
allay this concern, was the discovery of an accidental misap- 
prehension, into which one of the most prominent negotiators 
of the Treaty of Ghent had been led, in a private letter after- 
wards published, written immediately after the signature of the 
Treaty of Ghent, which was to the effect that Massachusetts 
had not the shadow of claim to any territory north of 45°, 
eastward of Penobscot river. It cannot be necessary to say 
that this momentary error has since been most satisfactorily 
explained and rectified. It may not be wonderful, however, 
that JMaine, at this moment, surprised by this sudden develope- 
ment, of which she had been alarmed by rumors, destitute of 
the documentary evidence that had been made use of in relation 
to her title, and ignorant of the grounds upon which it had been 
impeached, or of the extent to which it misiht have been com- 
promittcd, without having been consulted, neither herself nor 
Massachusetts, in a single step or stage of this course of pro- 
ceeding, in which her rights were so seriously involved, — it can 
hardly, therefore, we say, be wondered that Maine was induced 
to exclaim, through her Executive organ, that she had not been 
treated as she had endeavored to deserve. 

The assertion and announcement of this new and strange 
pretension was accompanied, as will be well rememhered, also, 
by a sort of simultaneous charge from the Provincial powers 
of New Brunswick, along the whole line of the hitherto undis- 
turbed American possession and population. The boundary, 
supposed to have been sufliclently established from ^he St. 
Croix as far as the St. John, was now broke into. This as- 



IS-U.] SENATE.— Nu. 19. U 

sault was made upon all persons, vvilhoul discriminaiion, who 
might have ihought themselves protected by the authority of 
Maine, or by the power of the United States, within the pre- 
cincts of what now for the first time was practically marked 
out as disputed territory. Process of ejectment was served 
about the same time, in the Fall of 1827, upon all the settlers 
on the Aroostook and the upper parts of the valley of the St. 
John, as intruders upon Crown lands ; and much complaint 
was made at the time, not w'ithout foundation, of the terror and 
severity with which this sudden exercise of foreign authority 
was employed. At this period, too, an American citizen, 
who had acquired the possession of an original American 
settler, seated upon a grant under the authority of the two 
States of Massachusetts and Maine, at the confluence of the 
small stream before mentioned with the St. John, having the 
protection of the Governor of Maine in his pocket, was seized 
by the Sheriff of the adjacent county in New Brunswick, and 
conveyed, as a prisoner, to Fredericton. 

It is due to observe, that upon enquiry into the facts, by the 
Government of the United States, as well as by that of this 
State, the liberation of this person was required, and an indem- 
nity was demanded in a tone and spirit worthy of the occasion ; 
and which afterwards served as a precedent on a similar one. 
But it was unavailing ; nor did the interference operate any 
alleviation to the condition of the unfortunate prisoner, nor as 
an abatement to the rigor of Provincial authority. Notwith- 
standing this reclamation, and in defiance of this demand by the 
Government of the United States, the proceedings went on, 
and the individual was tried, convicted, sentenced, and punished 
for his alleged oflences against the Crown and Government of 
Great Britain. Baker underwent his sentence, and returned 
to become again the subject of similar outrage and persecution. 
The record of his trial and conviction was put into the case, 
and became a part of the evidence furnished against the United 
States, in the submission to the King of the Netherlands. 



12 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [March 

After this monarch had in fact ceased to be that independent 
sovereign to whom the question was referred, and was obhged 
to rely upon the support of those powers, among them Great 
Britain, which had raised him to a kingdom now reduced to 
one half, and when, under these circumstances, in the room 
of undertaking to split the difference, he concluded to advise 
some agreement to that effect, and when that advice was 
declined to be accepted by the Government of the United 
States, then followed a period of some duration, over which 
we shall be willing to draw the mantle of oblivion. It was a 
period of obscuration and eclipse to the condition of this ques- 
tion, which may be denominated the dark day of its diplomatic 
management. For some considerable season the negotiations 
and transactions between the two governments were shrouded 
in impenetrable mystery ; and the shade was in some degree 
cast over the proceedings of cur own. A plan was on foot, in 
the first place, for adopting the proposal of the arbiter, and 
making it the basis of a further compromise. This project was 
defeated by the refusal of Maine to enter into it blindfold. 
Then followed the singular suggestion of turning aside from the 
due north direction and sweeping the course towards the West, 
for some indefinite and uncertain object, that would best answer 
the description, until it was made almost a matter of indifference 
vvhether the highlands in question, if any such existed, should 
be sought to the North or the South of the St. John ; and it 
was finally proposed, under color of seeking for highlands, to 
which both parties were agreed — that is to say, the only high- 
lands upon which they could agree, to strike a line from the 
St. Croix to the western elevated region which divides the 
waters of the St. John, Penobscot, and Chaudiere. 

During this season of darkness and diplomacy the rights and 
interests of this State were peculiarly compromised. The 
Government of Maine was called upon to disavow acts of its 
citiziens performed under its authority. Citizens of the State, 
within its limits, for conformity to its laws, were again seized 



1841.] SENATE.— No. 19. 13 

and imprisoned in New Brunswick ; and their liberation was 
requested of the Lieutenant Governor as a matter of grace and 
favor. Our civil securities, desit^ned by the Legislature for the 
temporary protection of the froiiiier, were dismantled, and left 
to desolation. Information was refused, and the enquiry into 
the state of the question stifled ; and, to crown the apparent 
abandonment of our cause for a season, the care of the disputed 
territory was resigned to the charge of a Provincial Warden. 

The constant cry to us during this period, was peace, when 
there was no peace. It is not too much to say that the powers 
of the Federal Government were then in abeyance to us ; or 
only exerted to repress our vigor, and restrain our energies ; 
and its influence was only exercised to depress and subdue the 
spirit and patriotism of the State, and to silence observation 
and complaint. This statement is not drawn forth without 
repugnance ; but it is due to the demands of truth, and no less 
to those of justice to the better counsels, by which those per- 
nicious and flagrant errors were afterwards, in a great measure, 
corrected and repaired. Suffice it to add, that under the influ- 
ence of those counsels which prevailed in the cabinets of Great 
Britain and the United States, during that season, the subject 
slumbered, so far as the public were concerned, for several 
years. An unavailing attempt to break the spell was made in 
1834, in the National House of Representatives. A call 
afterwards made in the Senate, was more successful. This 
was on motion of Mr. Webster, seconded by Mr. Clay, 
in 1836. The sensation produced by the unexpected dis- 
closures of the state of negotiation, then laid open to the light, 
served to re-aniinate and arouse the dormant state of public 
feeling and attention to the subject. Presently after the devel- 
opment, just mentioned, and after a variety of previous finessing 
and manffiuvreing to compass this object, the direct overture 
was at last made by Great Britain, through her Charge d 'Af- 
faires in this country, to finish the business, and to actually 
split the difference, without more formality, by a division of 



14 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDAllV. [March 

llie disputed territory between the parties upon equal terms. 
After much iVuitless discussion for a year or two longer, entire- 
ly irrelevant to the issue, but in which however the necessity 
or fitness of recurring to the State of JNIaine for her assent, 
and for making her a party, to any project for her own mutila- 
tion or dismemberment was recognized, the negotiation arrived 
at a point, in which, to cut the matter short, recourse was 
required to the expedient of consulting and ascertaining the 
sense of the State of Maine ; that is to say, whether it would 
give its consent to a conventional line of boundary. 

This leads to the view of the Resolves of the Legislature on 
.this subject, at the session of 1838, upon the communication 
of the correspondence upon this subject, between the Gover- 
nor and the Secretary of State of the United States ; to which 
in the progress of these remarks, the Committee look forward. 
As this forms an important epoch in the annals of the question, 
before entering upon that further field of observation, it may 
not be out of place for the Committee to recur, for a moment, 
to another topic which may be fit for reflection. 

The Committee are well aware, that there were respectable 
opinions entertained in favor of accepting the advice, or award, 
such as it was, of the King of the Netherlands ; and that there 
are still those, who continue to avow their regret that it w'as not 
done. It is remarkable, and at the same time gratifying to 
observe, that as this has arisen, and the more food has since 
been furnished for reflection, in the same proportion has the 
truth been gaining ground, of the right of INIaine ; and there 
has been a progressive strength of opinion in support of the 
justice and rightfulness of her cause ; until the conviction has 
become so firmly established in the public mind, as to leave no 
alternative, but to adopt its defence. To this conviction we 
might appeal for an apology, if one was necessary. But it is 
not for Maine to offer any for the course that was taken. 
That decision was made by the Senate of the United States ; 
and that body for itself rejected, and refused to advise the 



1841. SENATE-No. 10. If, 

President to accept the result of the submission. And suppos- 
ins this course was in consonance \vith the sentiment of Maine, 
either as anticipated, or expressed through her proper organs, 
was she to be the last to feel the force of the injustice that 
would have been done her, or to protest against the violation 
of her sacred rights.^ A low idea may have prevailed, it is 
true, of the comparative value of the land in dispute, and a grave 
one, undoubtedly, entertained, of the consequences that might 
be involved in the refusal to resign it. But how is that value 
to be measured ; and of what is a community to take counsel 
on a question of this kind.' Its conscience of right, or its con- 
cern for the event.' There is an importance in principles, as 
well as in consequences, not to be overlooked, and which 
ought not to be outweighed by ordinary, or excessive scruples. 
It is sufficient justification for us that the demand against us was 
totally unfounded ; that the domain in dispute was entirely ours. 
The success of the adverse scheme would have been that of 
stratagem and circumvention ; and it was not for Maine to have 
been foremost to contribute to its consummation. Leaving the 
due responsibility of that decision wherever it rests, the pru- 
dence of the determination of Maine, it may be observed, was 
a question, so far as she alone was concerned, for herself. 
The control was in the superior wisdom and discretion of the 
Union ; whose councils can best appreciate the utility, or 
importance, of the retrospection. 

We will not pause to say that the sacrifice required was un- 
compensated to Maine by any equivalent, in frontier or other- 
wise, such as was, in fact, offered at Ghent ; or in any other 
respect, except by relinquishing to the United States the useless 
fortifications at Rowse's Point. Some compensation of another 
kind, in another quarter, it is true, was afterwards suggested to 
Maine, concerning which, we believe, there never has been but 
one opinion. Maine, we are sure, would never consent to 
barter her birth-right for any mere sordid consideration. As 
a question of right, moreover, we may be sensible that the 



IG NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [March 

subject had not the same interest to others, at that time, that it 
had to ourselres ; nor had it been considered by Congress and 
the country in the hght it has since been. The right we were 
solicited to surrender was, indeed, scarcely acknowledged to 
be ours. Less, as has been remarked, was thought then of the 
truth and justice of our cause, and of the injustice and indig- 
nity we had endured, the sense of which has since been spread, 
and the report thereof rung throughout the land. Whatever 
regret may still remain, that Maine had not submitted in silence, 
and without even that sympathy which might have soothed sub- 
mission, there certainly has been less surprise at her course of 
conduct, since the character of her case and the history of 
her wrongs have come to be more perfectly understood ; ex- 
cept, that is to say, at the extent of her patience and forbear- 
ance under the most aggravating and humiliating circumstances. 
No reflection has long been cast upon her fidelity, either to 
herself or to the Union ; and every other unavailing expression 
of a doubtful kind has, we had trusted, long since died away. 

It may here be added, that it yet remains to be seen whether 
the course pursued by Maine upon that, as well as on every 
occasion, will not prove at once more true to herself and to 
the Union, than has thus far been viewed as being perfectly 
ascertained, or she has had entire credit for. 

The Committee would here be permitted to observe that 
they have not thought it important, at this time, to go into any 
long and labored argument, or vindication, of the right of Maine 
to what is termed the territory in dispute. They hope they 
owe no apology for any such omission. The day for that has 
gone by. In their opinion, it has been argued quite too much 
and too long already. The matter, which was never doubtful 
to any unbiassed mind, demands no further exposition or eluci- 
dation in the view of the country ; and by the Government and 
people of Great Britain our voice is unheard, or unheeded. 
The subject has already been discussed, with sufficient clear- 
ness and cogency, in former Reports of the Committee to the 



iSll.j SENATE.— No. 19. 17 

Legislature, and in a variety of familiar public documents that, 
have been widely circulated ; and a continuance of it, it is 
conceived, would take up all the time and room that can con- 
veniently be assigned for the present Report, without any other- 
wise useful and important purpose. 

It is possible, however, that some apology might be due to 
the state of public intelligence or expectation, whether for 
oujitting, or for taking notice of, the result of the recent ex- 
ploration and survey of the British Commissioners, and their 
Report, published and communicated by the authority of that 
Government. The Committee can only say, that they should 
pass it by in silence, except from the general surprise and 
attention which it has excited ; and that they should otherwise 
leave it to the lot to which it had better be consigned. They 
are only restrained from speaking of it further according to its 
merits, by the respect that is due to the channel through which 
it comes, rather than to the source from w^hich it proceeds ; 
from speaking, they mean to sa)', as it deserves, of what might 
otherwise be termed its impudence, its audacity, and its men- 
dacity ; of its sophistries and evasions ; of its assumptions, as 
well as its suppressions ; of its profligate perversions, and its 
presumptuous and extravagant pretensions. It sets at naught 
and seeks to get rid, in the fust place, of the settlement of the 
source of the St. Croix under the Treaty of 1794, no less 
than it docs the description of the highlands in the Treaty of 
17S3; and it proclaims a discovery for the final solution of the 
whole question, by the transposition of a point in the original 
Latin grant of Nova Scotia to Sir William Alexander. Its 
falsities, moreover, are obvious and palpable. In the room 
of the dividing highlands, described in the Treaty of 1783, it 
substitutes a certain new-fangled phrase, or idea, of the 
maximum axis of elevation, which it pursues and carries 
through, over hill and vale, along and across various streams, 
and crossing several times the same stream, viz. the Aroos- 
took, until it reaches some undiscovered bourne, ihcncc to be 
3 



18 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [March 

termed the North-west Angle of Nova Scotia. This newly- 
invented principle, or rather name (the axis heing mere matter 
of imagination) is understood to mean the greatest prevailing 
character of elevation, in the confi^^uraiion of tlie country, 
upon some broad general parallel between the river St. Law- 
rence and the main Atlantic, extending from the head of Con- 
necticut river, where it is made to begin, and merging in the 
lower valley of the St. John, where it loses itself ; or if it 
ever rises again on the east bank, it is to approach the south, 
and not touch the north, side of the Bay of Chaleurs. This 
scheme undertakes to show, upon the base of some modern 
geological theory, what were the true original highland forma- 
tions intended by the Proclamation of 17G3 and the Treaty of 
1783, in the entire absence, at that time, it may be observed, 
of all such notions, and indeed of all those lights that have 
since been shed, by subsequent researches, upon the principles 
of a science then cither unknown or not deemed of any prac- 
tical importance. Indeed, it has been obliged to resort to the 
most incredible and absurd supposition to account for the absence 
of facts in tlie face of the country, necessary to sustain its ])urc 
and unsupported hypothesis. 

It is needless to mention that its strength is employed and 
consumed upon entirely irrelevant and subordinate, if not trivial, 
topics, not touching at all the main criterion of the Treaty 
highlands, as ranging along the heads of rivers emptying into 
the St. Lawrence. It gives up the only ground on which the 
British argument laid before the arbiter could possibly stand, 
to wit, that the higlilands in the Treaty of 17S3 were not the 
same as those described in the Proclamation of 1763 ; and it 
tramples down equally the positions assumed in the statements 
and supported by the evidence before the umpire, and almost 
every pretext upon which he could base his conclusion. Per- 
haps its most remarkable sleight is that, by which it achieves a 
direct line between the sources of the St. Croix and the Chau- 
dierc, by changing the due north direction to one nearly west ; 



1841.] SENATE.— No. 19 ly 

and it betrays a singular and strii<ing coincidence vvidi the diplo- 
matic scheme before mentioned for searching from the St. Croix 
for highlands in which both parties should agree! 

The task of entirely exposing!: the disingeniiousnes?; and total 
imworthiness of the character of this Report, in regard to all 
those points in which it ought chiefly to recommend itself to 
public confidence any where — one which your Committee have 
been loth and reluctant to undertake — has not, however, been 
neglected by other and abler hands, by which it has been tho- 
roughly performed, and in which they are quite willing to leave 
it. Besides the various publications of distinguished individ- 
uals upon this subject, the Committee would allude, with plea- 
sure and satisfaction, to the recent Report in regard to it to the 
Legislature of Massachusetts — one uniting together names the 
most respectable and venerable also to Maine. 

The Committee feel it to be desirable, before dismissing 
these observations, to divest them, as far as possible, of all 
undue application ; and, most of all, where they would be the 
least applicable. They feel a difficulty, however, in forbear- 
ing to remark, and to express their regret, in respect to the 
unfortunate commentary, which is presented by the character of 
this Commission and Report, upon the highly liberal policy 
which has always prevailed in the United States, in regard to 
cherishing the merit of foreigners. And it is no less due to 
say, that the faithfulness, with which that favor has been re- 
warded, in one instance, is only set off in a stronger light, and 
more conspicuous relief, by the perfidious requital which has 
been made for undeserved patronage, and the illustration 
afforded, in an opposite and striking point of view, of mere 
mercenary service. 

The Committee are further desirous to distinguish, and to 
mark the difference in their opinion, between that portion of 
the Report in question, which is hypothetical and argumenta- 
tive, and that which relates to the particular execution of the 
duty assigned to the Commissioners, in regard to survey ; iu 



20 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [March 

which respect, they are liappy to say, it is presumed lo be su- 
perior to any just exception. 

It is no more than fit, in this respect, also, to say that the 
Report in question distinctly acknowledires the existence of a 
range of highlands, extending along upon tlie right bank of the 
St. Lawrence, and fulfilling upon that side the features of the 
Treaty of 1783; and that it perfectly shows that the Treaiv 
is capable of being literally executed (as it could not avoid 
doing) in that respect. Whether there was such a formation, 
along upon some parallel with the St. Lawrence at the head of 
the rivers that emptied into it, known and understood to exist 
at the time of the Proclamation of 1763, as well as of the 
Treaty of 1783, was not more a simple question for the eye, 
as viewed from the margin or from the bosom of that stream, 
than it was established in the geography and history of that 
section of country, and was exhibited in all the good maps of 
that age. The account of such highlands extends back to the 
earlier archives of Canada ; and it appears in the authentic 
records of the seventeenth century. A graphic description of 
iheir appearance is given at that ancient day, under the reign 
of Louis XIV, as reaching from the vicinity of Quebec, at 
some distance from the shore, quite down towards the mouth 
of the river. Douglas's Political History of the British Set- 
tlements in America, (of which difierent editions were pub- 
lished from 1746, about the date of the Treaty of Aix la 
Chapelle, until 17G0, on the conquest of Canada) contains a 
like sketch of the long range of highlands lying on the south 
side of the St. Lawrence, at no great distance, for several 
hundred miles in extent. They are represented as elevated 
and lofty heights in that direction, with short and rapid rivers 
or runs of water on that side of the St. Lawrence, according 
with the old French accounts of the same section of country ; 
and they are reconnnended to public attention in that work, 
which was published near the eve of the Peace of 1763, in con- 
nexion with the subject of a convenient barrier or boundary for 



1811.] SENATE.— No. 19. 21 

llie British Provinces, in any future demarcations. The Brit- 
ish Annual Register of that year, too, in its text, contained :i 
coteniporaneous exposition of the Proclamation of 17G.3; and 
the highlands were there described, and their situation was laid 
down and illustrated on the accompanying map, in the same 
volume, as they were tiien and afterwards understood, and ack- 
nowledged, until a very recent period. 

A remarkably clear light is likewise thrown upon the charac- 
ter of this well known highland boundary by a document that 
has been preserved among the provincial or State papers of 
IMassachusetts respecting it, bearing date in the following year, 
1764. A question having been started at that moment, when 
the Crown was looking up its lands in all directions, whether 
the lands lying east of the Penobscot, or between Nova Scotia 
and the Sagadahock, (formerly called the Sagadahock territo- 
ry,) were not more properly Crown lands, and therefore not 
for the General Court to grant, although included within the 
Massachusetts charter, and therefore stretching to the St. 
Lawrence, it was brought before the Board of Trade, and 
became the subject of discussion between the Provincial Agent, 
and the British Minister for that department. The Lords, at 
least, thought that the Province could claim no right to the 
lands on the river St. Lawrence ; and it was the opinion of the 
agent, though the original patent extended to the river of Can- 
ada northward, that it was not important to Massachusetts to 
preserve a portion of country which lay so remote, and "whose 
rivers run still further" from the old part of the Province ^^ into 
that of St. Lawrence ;" and it was j)roposed, that if the Pro- 
vince would cede all the claims they might have under their 
charter, " /o the lands on the river St. Lawrence, destined by 
" the Royal Proclamation to form part of the Government of 
" Quebec," the Crown would waive all further dispute con- 
cerning the lands as far as St. Croix, and from the sea coast of 
the Bay of Fundy to the bounds of the Province of Quebec; 
and the General Court was thereupon advised to relinquibh 



22 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [Maicli 

" llie narroic tract of land which lay beyond the sources of all 
" their rivers, and which was watered by those that runinto the 
'■'•river St. Latcrence,^'' as being of little comparative conse- 
quence to the Province, but "absolutely necessary to the 
" Crown, to preserve the continuity of the Government of 
" Quebec." This historical document shews precisely how 
the narrow valley of the St. Lawrence was viewed at the time 
in England, and America, to be marked olf by the recent 
Proclamation of 17G3, of which it is a cotemporaneous expla- 
nation; and exhibits therefore, in conspicuous relief, the situation 
of the naturally and necessarily separating, continuous elevation. 

That such a range of highlands continued down the St. 
Lawrence, and branched off toward the north side of the Bay 
of Chaleurs, was alike recognized and represented in the acts of 
the Crown and Parliament from 1763 to 1774. And the 
known configuration of the earth, in that quarter, necessarilv 
establishes such a fiict. 

The Committee need not say, that the existence of such an 
elevated rise of land, along that general direction, has never been 
drawn in question by any cotemporary authorities, or done 
away by any subsequent inquiries. A topographical descrip- 
tion of Lower Canada, by the Surveyor General of the 
Province, published upon the conclusion of peace in 1S15, 
and with full knowledge of the articles in the Treaty of Ghent, 
delineates " the ridge rising at a certain distance, generally 
" denominated the Land's Height, dividing the waters that fall 
" into the St. Lawrence from those taking a direction towards 
" the Atlantic Ocean — along whose summit is supposed to run 
" the boundary line between the territories of Great Britain and 
" the T-nited States. This chain commences upon the eastern 
" branch of the Connecticut River, takes a northeasterly course, 
" and terminates near Cape Rosier in the Gulf of St. Law- 
" rence." Now, it was upon this section of highlands trending 
toward the Bay of Chaleurs, or rising along to the northward of 
it, as discernible by the eye, or determining the water courses 



1841.] SENATE— No. 19. 23 

described by the acts of the Crown and Parhamcnt in 1763 and 
1774, where the rivers should separate oft" in dillereiit directions 
into the St. Lawrence and into the Adantic, wherever that 
should be intersected by the meridian, or due north line by 
celestial observation, from the St. Croix, — that the bounds 
of the United States, defined by the Treaty of 1783, abutted. 
The Committee refer to this as the only real and proper 
question of a geographical kind, which can arise or exist in the 
case ; and nothing was ever necessary, but to ascertain and 
define that true point by degrees of latitude and longitude, as 
was afterwards proposed to be done by the unratified Conven- 
tions before mentioned of 1803 and ISOG. They have adverted 
to this point, and allowed themselves to look back upon this 
ancient and well traced line of boundary upon the horizon of 
former times, with more freedom than there might otherwise 
have been occasion, in consequence of an idea at first insinuated, 
and afterwards more gradually developed, and confidently in- 
sisted upon, in the diplomatic papers of Great Britain, since 
the period of 1832, that no such range or region of highlands 
in truth existed, and that the Treaty of 17 S3 was therefore 
physically incapable of execution. Such a fallacious sugges- 
tion was, undoubtedly, entirely in the face of all former obser- 
vation and polhical experience in regard to the question. If 
there was room for any thing to confirm this point, it might be 
found in the acknowledgment of the fact, in every form, in 
which it could be made at the time of the Treaty of 1783. 
Authentic evidence exists that the British Minister at Paris 
was possessed of all the "books, maps, and papers, relative to 
the Boundary," which were wanted from the public offices in 
London ; and without referring to the conclusive character and 
efiect of Miichcirs Map, which was regularly prepared under 
the sanction of the Board of Trade and Plantations, and was 
the one immediately before the negotiators, all the maps known 
to have been published in England from 1763 to 1783, nearly 
twenty in number, carried the course of the boundary hne from 



24 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [March 

ihe source of the river St. Croix northward, across the river 
St. John, and terminated at the iiighlands in which the rivers 
that fall into the St. Lawrence take their rise. In all those 
niaps^ the North West angle of Nova Scotia is laid down on 
those highlands, where that north line terminates. In all, the 
highlands from that point to the Connecticut River divide the 
waters that fall into the St. Lawrence from tl;e trihutaries of 
the St. John, and from the other rivers that fall into the Atlar.- 
tic. Several difi'erent maps published in England also between 
the preliminary and definitive treaties, in November 17S2 and 
September 1783, lay down the boundaries of the United States 
similar to those delineated io the previous maps as the boun- 
daries of the Provinces of Quebec and Nova Scotia, and 
as they have ever since been claimed by the United Slates. 
All the world knows, that this was pointed out and demonstra- 
ted, without any denial, in the debates in Parliament immedi- 
ately upon the Treaty ; that it was defended by the Ministry 
who had been put in to make peace upon terms which they 
were disposed to render favorable to us, and that the contest 
was determined against them upon that ground. If access could 
even now be had to the various depositories of the papers and 
correspondence passing between the British Ministry and its 
negotiators at the Peace of 1783, your Committe(3 have the 
persuasion, that a still more conclusive light might be cast, 
if it were possible, upon the intentions, as well as the terms, of 
that treat}', so as to dispel all shadow of doubt, that might rest 
upon that question, even in England. 

It is unnecessary to repeat the deep concern and mortifica- 
tion, with which Maine became acquainted with the state of 
negotiation on this subject, in 1S3(). It was shown to have 
been so strangely conducted, under the long course of diplo- 
matic management, that almost every trait of the Trealy of 
1783 was elTaced, and all the real and permanent features, or 
characteristics, of the (picstion, were (juite ;dtered, or lost sight 



1841.1 senate:.— No. 19. 25 

of. And it was finally in.sistcd by the British ^linister, forget- 
ting the late height of Mars Hill, that a due North line from the 
St. Croix would strike no highlands described by the Treaty. 
The topic, indeed, was taken up, as though it was fresh ; and 
was treated as if there had been no previous Treaty at all about. 
it. Without making any other remark in regard to the mode 
in which the subject was thus managed, it is no more than 
proper to say, that it served as a prelude to the further project, 
afterwards disclosed, for unsetding the source of the St. Croi>?, 
and striking a hnc across the country, to the head of the 
Chaudiere. The same spirit had only to travel back, whether 
in the shape of critical acuteness, or geological research, and 
remove the highlands described in the Proclamation of 1763 
from their heights where they sent their streams into the St. 
Lawrence, to that interior and formerly unknown region, where 
they might be conceived to constitute the maxhnitm axis of 
elevation : or to go yet further, to the suppression of that por- 
tion of the old charter of Massachusetts which contemplated its 
" extending from the river of Sagadahock to the Gulf of St. 
" Lawrence and Canada Rivers," &c. and also of the passage 
as quoted in the American statement before the King of Hol- 
land from the letter of the royal Governor of Massachusetts to 
the Board of Trade in 1700, that "as to the boundaries, we 
" have always insisted, and shall insist, upon the English right, 
" as far as the St. Croix ;" or furthest and last of all, by 
vouching a stale philology, in aid of a new invented and apo- 
cryphal geology, so as to change the original direction of Sir 
William Alexander's obsolete grant of Nova Scotia from the 
northward, in a straight line, toward the West, to the head of 
the remotest river, the Chaudiere, that falls into the St. Law- 
rence, opposite, or just above (Quebec. 

From publications like this last, again alluded to, not without 
repugnance, it is refreshing to the testimony of a moral sense 
in the human breast, to turn to opinions in relation to the gen- 
eral subject in recent and respectable English periodical works, 
4 



26 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [March 

delivered in a tone as well as, we doubt not, a spirit of equity, 
moderation, and candor. If the Committee cannot emulate, as 
they would wish to, they can at least acknowledge, a tone and 
temper like this ; and they can at least hail it as an auspicious 
harbinger, of a dawn, if not a day, that has not even yet fairly 
broken — oh, when will it ever burst again — from the orientsl 
glory of old England, upon the broad, eternal ground of truth 
and justice ! 

It is trusted by the Committee, that this retrospect will not 
be regarded as unimportant, nor the last portion of these remarks 
be deemed as a digression, in view of the period which they are 
approaching, of 1838. Previous to which, it may be mention- 
ed, that a strong solicitude was awakened in the breasts of the 
people of this Stale by observing the advancing progress and 
extent of British usurpation, and encroachment upon the dis- 
puted territory. One of the most extraordinary, was the project 
for a rail road, proposed by the Legislature of New Brunswick, 
called the St. Andrews and Quebec Rail Road Company, to 
which the Legislature of New Brunswick pledged its co-opera- 
tion, and which was patronized by a royal grant of £10,000. 
A rail road of this description, it was plain, must have inter- 
sected the State of Maine quite South of the St. John ; and 
the plan of it was to cross the line at ■Mars Hill. This enter- 
prise did not escape the vigilance of the Le^slature ; and 
although it was relinquished, the demonstration was not lost 
upon the public mind. The subject was taken up ut the ensuing 
session of the Legislature in 1837 ; and the Joint Committee 
on tha North-Easlern Boundary was instructed to enquire into 
the expediency of providing by law for the appointment of 
Commissioners on the p.ut of the State, by the consent of the 
Government of the United States to sur\ ey the line between 
this Slate and the Province of New Brunswick, according to 
the Treaty of 1783, and to establish monuments at such places 
as should be fixed by such Commissioners, and by Commis- 
sioners to be ajipointed on the part of the Government of Great 



1841.] SENATE.— No. 19. 27 

Britain. Upon the report of that Committee a properly modi- 
fied Resolve was adopted by the Legislature, thai tlie Governor 
should he authorized and requested to call on the President of 
the United States to cause the North-Eastern Boundary of the 
Slate to be explored and surveyed, and monuments erected, 
according to the Treaty of 1783 ; that the co-operation of 
Massachusetts should be solicited ; and our Senators instructed 
and Representatives requested accordingly. In consequence 
of this Resolve, it is well remembered, an appropriation was 
obtained in Congress, on the motion of Mr. Evans, of the sum 
of $20,000, for the purpose of such survey, and to carry the 
object of it into effect ; in regard to which it is needless to 
remark, that nothing was ever done ; nor is it recollected that 
any other reason was ever given for the omission than the 
existence of some negotiation. The appropriation was limited 
to two years. In the interval, it will not be forgotten, another 
American citizen, and it is hoped, the last, was arrested, with- 
in the Madawaska precinct, in execution of a duty assigned to 
him by the laws of the United Slates, under the local authori- 
ties of JNIaine, and was imprisoned, once and again, until he 
was eventually liberated. This seizure was made the subject 
of complaint and reclamation in the same manner that had been 
adopted in tiie former case ; and with similar success. These 
reclamations, it may be observed, have remained ever since 
suspended. The National Government have recognized their 
correctness on the part of Maine, and have acknowledged the 
title of the State to compensation. But the deepest impression 
was made upon the public mind, at this last period, by the open 
marching of British troops across the upper part of the territory 
in the latter part of 1837. Of the intention to do this, the 
Committee would observe, that simple notice was given by the 
British Government ; and it was accepted, and communicated 
as an act of com-tesy, to 1)e dul} appreciated by ours. The 
Committee feel restrained by motives of a high, prudent, and 
moral nature, from commenting on this circumstance, in all the 



28 NOR'i'H-EASTERN BULNDAKV. [March 

relations with wliich it is concerned, and in regard to all the 
reflections and emotions to which it gives rise. Candor requires 
the admission, that the national administration did not at that 
moment I'oresee the consequences of this inconsiderate facility, 
or prohably anticipate that it would terminate, as it has done, 
in an actual and apparently absolute occupation of that part of 
the disputed territory by an established British military force. 

The Committee are willing to say, that they do not wonder 
at the difiiculty which was found to understand the subject, or 
to perceive all its proper relations, in the state in uhich it was 
left previous to the period of the late administration; and they 
readily acknowledge that, making due allowance for the embar- 
rassment in taking it up at first, there has been no want of an 
able and sincere attention to its interest ; and that it has been 
passed from the hands of the late Secretary of Slate in a much 
better condition than he found it. 

The Committee have now come to the period when Maine 
had so long seen herself exposed, without .having any adequate 
shield against the aggressions and encroachments of tlie Pro- 
vincial Government of New Brunswick, upon her borders ; 
and when, feeling the extreme inconvenience and danger result- 
ing from not having any marked and established frontier, she 
was compelled by necessity to take the work of ascertaining it 
into her own hands, and of determining it, so far as she could, 
unless she should be relieved from the task by the superior 
prudence and power of the General (iovernment. This State 
saw clearly the importance and propriety of causing this to be 
done, if it could be so, by the authority of the United States ; 
and if that recourse failed, the State was no less clear in regard 
10 the duty it was owing to itself. Indeed, it saw no other 
alternative. At the same time, therefore, that the Legislature 
refused to give its consent, beforehand, to a conventional line, 
it further resolved that unless the Government of the United 
States'! should, alone or in conjunction with that of Great 
Britain, run and mark tlie line, by a certain time, (which was 



IS-JI.) SENATE— No. n). 29 

fixed ill iSeplember, to await the adjounimeiU of Congress) the 
Governor of the State should enter upop the execution of tliat 
measure. No provision, however, was made for the necessary 
expense of that service, beyond what was contained in the 
ordinary contingent fund. That Resolve and this fund were all 
that the Executive of the State had to guide and to aid him. 

The Committee do not stoj) to state at length the views that 
were taken of the subject by the Governor of the State, at 
that ])eriod, under the duties prescribed and enjoined upon him. 
They are exhibited in the communications made by him to the 
(Tovernment of the United States, and especially to the dele- 
gation of this State in Congress. Those views might be re- 
ferred to still with Interest and satisfaction ; and it would give 
the Committee pleasure to copy them into this Report. In 
substance and amount they were: — that Maine was not desirous 
to assume the attitude required by her Resolves ; that the 
people looked with intense interest to the expected action of 
Congress and of the Federal Executive upon the subject ; and 
that their earnest wish was that the United States would go 
forward in the matter ; that tlie Slate did not seek to act inde- 
pendently of the United States, but did feel that the subject 
belonged properly to the Government of the United States ; 
that the question was a national one, and the action thereon 
should be national; that it was important that tiie Provincial 
and the British Governments should understand that what was 
to be done should be so under the authority of the General 
Government, and would be sustained by it; for so long as they 
supposed that Maine was not acting in accordance with the 
sentiments of the United States, but proceeded on her own 
responsibility, alone and unsupported — so long must we expect 
a repetition of outrages upon our rights and upon the persons 
of our citizens and agents. Maine was obliged to move upon 
her own responsibility ; but no just inference was thence to be 
drawn that she intended to absolve the General CJovernment 
from its constitutional obligation, as the principal, responsible, 



30 NOIlTH-EASTEilN BOLNDARV. [Murch 

guardian power ; and the course prescribed was evidently in- 
tended to be pursued only in the last resort, to assert our 
rights, all other measures failing. But in that respect the de- 
termination of ]Maine was announced to be fixed and settled ; 
and, so far as rested on her Executive, her will, as expressed 
by the Legislature, should be faithfully obeyed and executed. 

The Committee do not deem it necessary to go into all the 
circumstances of that eventful Resolve, and to review the 
whole transactions of that period, in which our cause was 
raised from the character of a border quarrel — one in which it 
had too long been viewed in other j)aits of the Union — into its 
due relief and importance ; when it was presented to public 
favor, and placed in the foreground of our public afiairs, and 
lifted into the clearer light of day, as a matter about which 
there could be no doubt, and there ought to be no further dis- 
pute and delay. It was rescued, at the same time, from the 
deadly repose of diplomacy ; and almost redeemed at once 
from those enormous errors and obliquities, in which it had been 
involved by the predecessors of the now late Secretary of 
tState. An arrangement was, at this point of time, without 
waiting any further, proposed by him to the British Govern- 
ment, under the direction of the President, to test the correct- 
ness of the opinion of the Stale of IMaine, that the line 
described in the Treaty of 1783 could be found and traced, 
whenever the Governments of the United States and Great 
Britain shoukl proceed to make the requisite invcsiiiration, with 
a predisposition to efl'ect the desired object. It might seera 
strange, to be sure, that the question should be sujiposed to 
have arrived at such a pass ; and the mode in which the inves- 
tigation was taken up, at that particular moment, was far from 
being satisfactory ; but it undoubtedly appeared to the Execu- 
tive of the United States to be best ; and it was regarded, 
indeed, it is believed, as the only alternative that could be 
adopted, to the total rupture of negotiation. '\\'hetlu'r that 
was of so much real importance as was then, perhaps, con- 



1S41.] SENATE.— No. If). 31 

celved, the result has hardly yet proved. The subject was, 
however, by this means, unavoidably taken out of the immedi- 
ate hands of Congress, as a matter of practical consideration 
and proceeding, further than the occasion was thereby aflbrded 
to call for its definite opinion and decision thereupon. And it 
must be owned to have been a great and sensible relief to the 
State of Maine, and it awakened her warmest gratitude, that 
her call for the judgment of Congress was followed by the cor- 
dial and unanimous recognition of her rights by both its branches; 
and by the subsequent acknowledgment, so long suspended, ol 
her title to recompense for essential and vital wrongs. 

The cause of Maine was then adopted and made, not only 
the cause of Massachusetts and all New England, but the cause 
of New York and Virginia, of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Ken- 
tucky, and, in fine, of the whole Union. While all might not 
have been done by the Federal Government that was desired 
by the Legislature, it is due to acknowledge that all was done 
by Congress, that was in their power, under the circumstances 
in which they were called to act, consistent witli the previous 
course of the President, in re-opening negotiation. Whether 
there is any reason for regret, in respect to that course, as 
before intimated, it is not within the province, if it were in the 
power, of the Committee to determine. They may, perhaps, 
be permitted to observe, that there was a full report made, at 
that period, of the agency instituted under the State Executive 
for the purpose of obtaining the constitutional sanction and co- 
operation of the Government of the United States. Full 
justice was intended to be done, as the Committee may believe, 
in that Report, to the principal actors in that interesting and 
important matter ; and a merited tribute was paid to those dis- 
tinguished persons in the Senate of the United States, particu- 
larly, who took a leading part in the discussion and decision. 
The only diflicuhy was in assigning to individuals their proper 
share of that merit on our behalf, which, if so well deserved 
by them, was justly due to all. If there was an omission to 



^ NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY . [Maivli 

be repaired, it might have been in respect to the names of il>e 
two representatives of Maine therein mentioned as having taken 
an effective part in the finally successful course of proceedings 
in the House of Representatives. There was no occasion to 
say that those two representatives were Mr. Evans and Mr. 
Fairfield ; both of whom have since been remembered with the 
most respectful consideration by the State, and the memorv of 
their arduous and faithful services on this subject is yet fresh in 
its mind. Without disparagement also to the constant and 
faithful services of a Senator from our own State, (Mr. Wil- 
liams) which are also entitled to iheir due acknowledgment, the 
Committee may be allowed the gratification of adding that the 
cause of Maine, in the true sense of the word, had no more 
decided and determined champion in the Senate, than the 
present worthy Governor of Massachusetts. 

H the Resolves of 183S did not entirely reach their object, 
they may be well regarded as having accomplished their end. 
This was done, we would remark, in the first place, by means 
of those joint unanimous Resolutions of Congress, which as- 
serted the rightfulness of our claim, and the practicability of 
running and estabiishing the line of boundary agreeable to the 
Treaty of 1783; and secondly, by engaging the co-operation 
and support of the Government of the T'uiied States, so much 
in accordance with the spirit, if somewhat short of the letter, 
of our Resolves ; thirdly, the fulfilment of the course of actiort 
adopted by the General Government, so far as it proved de- 
fective upon a strict construction of those Resolves, was neces- 
sarily furnished by the conclusion of the Executive of the 
State to go on and execute the instructions of the Legislature, 
as he had unequivocally announced his intention to do, in that 
emergency. The absolute mandate of the Legislature left him 
no alternative ; and although the path on which he was obliged 
to enter was one beset with ditficuhy and discouragement, ho 
was equal to what the occasion required. The Committee are 
proud to rccal that he had the satisfaction of being seconded. 



1811.1 SENATE.— No. 19. 33 

also, ill carrying the undertaking into effect, by that constant, 
ardent, and indefatigable advocate of the rights and interests of 
Maine, the late John G. Deane, over whose recent and un- 
timely grave we are called to pause, without turning aside, and 
to bestow the passing tribute due to his honest worth, and his 
persevering and devoted spirit. 

And, finally, we may consider the end of those Resolves to 
have been accomplished, in a material respect ; that is, in re- 
gard to ascertaining, what was the immediate object of that 
expedition, and which never fairly admitted of a question — the 
feasibility of the undertaking, if there was a disposition to go 
about it in good earnest. We may likewise be at liberty to 
look upon the late subsequent proceedings, instituted under the 
direction of the Government of the United States, for the 
exploration and survey of the Treaty boundary upon the 
north-east angle of the United States, as the final, though 
tardy, result and confirmation of the previous consequence of 
the Resolves and proceedings of 1838 in this same respect. 
Without questioning whether the American Government ought 
to have allowed the British to have been in advance, upon an 
investigation of this kind, it may all'ord sufficient satisfaction 
that the main object has so far been answered, and that the 
Resolves of 1833 have been thus, in some important respects, 
although still imperfectly, performed. 

In this respect the Committee may allude, with gratifica- 
tion, to the so far satisfactory results to which the Commission- 
ers recently appointed by the Government of the United States 
have arrived, as already communicated. Without deeming 
them to have been of absolute and essential importance, we 
may regard them as auxiliary to what had been already accom- 
plished, and as tending to carry out the purpose of the Resolves 
of 1838 to their final completion. The character of the recent 
exploration is one well calculated to gain respect and confi- 
dence ; and we hope it may be speedily pursued to the final 
determination of the lines it will be the object to run and mark. 
6 



34 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARV. L^arch 

The Committee liave now come upon a period at which 
Maine was called upon to test the firmness of her principles, 
and the fortitude of her purposes^ and they may further say, 
the sirengtli of her Resolves, upon a sudden and somewhat 
imforeseen emergency. This was in consequence of informa- 
tion communicated to Governor Fairfield, on entering the duties 
of his office, as successor to Governor Kent, in 1S39, and by 
him, confidentially, to the Legislature, that there was a large 
assembly of unknown individuals upon the border, many of 
whom were from the British Provinces, engaged in trespassing 
extensively upon the lands belonging to this State and Massa- 
chusetts, within the proper jurisdiction of Maine ; and it was 
further stated, that they not only refused to desist, but that they 
defied the power of this Government to prevent their commit- 
ting depredations upon the timber within the territory, to any 
extent they pleased. In consequence of this communication, 
and the evidence in support of it, the Land Agent of the State 
was authorized, by a special Resolve of January 24, 1839, to 
employ forthwith sufficient force to arrest, detain, and imprison 
all persons found trespassing on the territory of this State, as 
bounded and established by the Treaty of 17S3. In proceed- 
ing upon the execution of this duty, upon the south side of the 
St. John, and west of the meridian dividing Maine from New 
Brunswick, the Land Agent was surprised and seized by an 
unauthorized force from the other side of the line, of the same 
character, if not in connexion, with the general trespassing 
parties, in the night, and was drawn, with circumstances of in- 
dignity and precipitation, to the seal of the Provincial Govern- 
ment, at Fredericion. There he was received, detained, and 
treated as an offender ; and shortly paroled, as a prisoner of 
state ; so that, in addition to the indignity, to which this State 
was thus subjected by the seizure and captivity of her official 
public agent, representing her supreme power, and acting under 
the direct authority and commission of the Legislature, it had 
to endure the further mortification of having the appropriate 



1841. SENATE— No. 19. 35 

duties of that high officer discharged by a jiaroled prisoner of 
her Britannic Majesty's Lieutenant Governor of New Bruns- 
wick, liable to be called to answer at any moment for oflicial 
acts by him performed upon the territory in question ; while it 
had, at the same time, to digest the double disgrace of receiv- 
ing this derogatory boon, under degrading circumstances, from 
a deputed power, which demanded the whole disputed territory 
to be under the immediate custody of a Provincial Warden. 

To pass rapidly over events so recent, as not to require 
recital, and not to burden this Report with details of which we 
may retain, perliaps, too deep and vivid a recollection, it may 
be observed, in passing, that the course thus adopted by this 
State, in resorting to its own power for protection, and moving 
upon the emergency to repel lawless aggression, was one, of 
which the legitimacy was recognized as well by British as by 
American jurisprudence, and it was allowed by Congress to 
have been exerted in strict conformity to the established prin- 
ciples of the fundan:iental law of both countries. The first 
appeal, moreover, to military force was made, and so declared 
by Congress, by the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick ; 
and the consequent proceedings on the part of Maine were 
acknowledged to have been purely defensive. The pretension 
assumed by the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick was 
considered as excluding the civil, as well as tlie military power 
of this State. It no less rejected the right of the United 
States, than that of Maine, to interpose any authority to pre- 
serve the peace and order of a portion of country, to which 
the British Government could extend nothing but a naked and 
destitute claim ; and which portion was comprehended in the 
ancient recognized jurisdiction of Massachusetts. These facts 
and principles were embodied in an able and patriotic Report 
from the Committee of Foreign Affairs, presented in the House 
of Representatives, on the 28th of February, 1839. 

Maine has not forgotten the generous and simultaneous syni- 
pathy which swelled throughout the land, nor will she cease to 



36 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [March 

bear in mind llie noble burst of indignation, which arose in the 
halJs of Contress, above all other interests, on the occasion 
of this movement from New Brunswick, and the stand assumed 
by Maine. The demand upon this Slate to divest herself of a 
jurisdiction practically established, and perfectly defined, and 
to surrender it to a contiguous foreign province, was listened 
lo with astonishment ; and the idea was not tolerated for a 
moment. The objection to the military occupation of the 
disputed territory by Great Britain was pronounced to be 
insurmountable ; and the execution of orders to that effect was 
proclaimed to be incompatible with the honor of the United 
States. The pretence, that there was any agreement or under- 
standing that Great, Britain should occupy the territory as she 
claimed, pending the controversy, was instantly repudiated; and 
the right of the Stale to the control and protection of her own 
domain fully asserted. The appeal, that was made by Maine 
at that moment to the General Government, met with a prompt 
and immediate response. The reply was one that manifested 
a due sense of her rights, by spreading over them the ample 
folds of the federal union ; and the sensibility of Congress to 
the claim of the Stale for protection expressed itself at once in 
the most effective and emphatic fonn. By an act of Congress 
upon the Report of the Committee of the House, the President 
was authorized to resist and repel any attempt on the part of 
Great Britain to enforce by arms her claim to exclusive juris- 
diction. The whole military and naval forces of the United 
States were placed at his disposal, with such portions of the 
militia as he might see fit to call out for our protection. Ten 
millions of dollars were appropriated for the j)urpose ; and a 
special provision was further made for the appointment of a 
minister to Great Britain, if the President should consider it 
expedient. This act was to continue in force until sixty days 
after the commencement of the then next session. 

Maine, in return, was solicited and appealed to, to rest satisfied 
uith this vindication of her sovereignty, and to rely on this full 



1841. J SENATE.— No. 19. 37 

assurance of protection ; and this act of Congress was present- 
ed to her, at once, as a pledge on the part of the (iovernmcnt, 
and as an inducement to prevail u])on her to withdraw her 
military force, then rightfully in arms to sustain the civil author- 
ity and to repel invasion. The Committee almost quote the 
public language employed by high authority upon that occasion; 
and they may refer to the general character of the acts and 
declarations of the federal government in our favor. And they 
Would take this further opportunity to say, with sincerity and 
pleasure, that if there has been any real want of vigor in the 
course of the late national administration upon this important 
subject, there has been scarcely any failure of the most uniform, 
conciliatory, and respectful treatment toward the State and its 
official authorities. 

Upon view of these measures of the national Government for 
the protection of the State, and in particular, of the provision 
also for the appointment of a special minister to the Court of 
St. James, the Legislature passed a Resolve on the 23d of 
March, 1839, which asserted the right of the State to exclusive 
jurisdiction over all the territory that lies West of a due North 
line from the monument to the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, 
to wit, all that had been called the disputed , territory ; and it 
denied the competency of any other authority to limit or impair 
the exercise of that inherent right, according to her own sole 
judgment ; and expressing at the same time an earnest desire 
to come to an amicable adjustment of the whole controversy, 
(referring immediately to the provision for the appointment of 
a special minister,) it did further resolve to forbear to enforce 
her jurisdiction in that part of the territory, of which the pos- 
session was then usurped by the Province of New Brunswick, 
so far as she could do so, consistently with the maintenance of the 
former Resolve of January 24th which has been mentioned ; 
and in relation to that late resolve the Legislature still declared 
it to be no less the imperative duty, than the unalienable right 
of the State to protect her public domain from depredation and 



3S NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [Marcli 

plunder, up to the extremest limits of her territory ; and that 
moreover, no power on earth should drive her from an act of 
jurisdiction so proper in itself, and to which her honor was so 
irrevocably committed. 

The Legislature also expressed its perfect approbation of the 
public measures pursued by Governor Fairfield in relation to 
the disputed territory, and further declared its determination to 
stand to, and sustain the execution of, the aforesaid Resolve of 
January 24th. It, however, authorized the Governor, when- 
ever he should be satisfied that the exigency had ceased, and 
that all intention of occupying the disputed territory with a 
military force, and of attempting the expulsion of our own party, 
had been abandoned, to withdraw the militia, leaving the Land 
Agent with a sufficient posse, armed or unarmed, as the case 
might require, to carry the said Resolve into elFect. 

The Legislature, at tlie same time, (bavins; before them the 
recent demonstration made under the direction of the former 
Governor) deemed that the entire practicability of running and 
marking our North-Eastern Boundary line, in strict conformity 
with the definitive Treaty of Peace of 1783, was placed beyond 
a doubt ; and further declared that a crisis had arrived, when 
it became the duty of the Government of the United States 
forthwith to propose to that of Great Britain a joint commission 
for the purpose of running the line accordingly ; and in case of 
refusal on the part of Great Britain, it was incumbent on the 
United States to run the line upon their own authority, and to 
take possession of the whole disputed territory without unne- 
cessary delay. 

In the mean time it may be remarked, that a preliminary 
aiTangement had been entered into by a memorandum signed 
on the 27th of February 1839, between the Secretary of State 
and the British Minister ; which, after stating the difi'erent 
views entertained by the two parties on the point of jurisdic- 
tion, proposed, that while the Lieutenant (governor of New 
Brunswick should nut w iiliout renewed instructions undertake 



1841.] SENATE— No. 19. 30 

to expel by force the armed party employed upon the Aroos- 
took by Maine, it should on the other hand be withdrawn by 
Maine ; and furthermore, that all future operations for protecting 
the territory against trespassers should be carried on, either 
jointly, or separately, by agreement between Maine and New 
Brunswick. 

With the greatest deference to the high source from which 
this proposal proceeded, the Committee cannot close their eyes 
to the singular and somewhat extraordinary nature and character 
of this recommendation. Maine had, to be sure, been com- 
pelled to act, upon a sudden occasion, in self defence ; but she 
had not presumed to enter into any relation with New Bruns- 
wick, in face of the absolute chuise of the consthution which 
forbids any State, without the consent of Congress, to " enter 
" into any agreement or compact with another State or with a 
" foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or 
" in such imminent danger, as will not admit of delay." Cer- 
tain stipulations are stated and understood to have been sub- 
scribed to and interchanged between the then Governor of 
Maine, and the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick, 
under the mediation of a distinguished military officer, sent 
hither by the General Government ; but they have not been 
understood, on the part of this State, to have exceeded the 
limits prescribed by the cotcmporaneous resolves, of which 
alone they could have been in execution, or fulfilment, so far 
as this State is concerned ; and as to any further virtue or 
efficacy the subscription must, the Committee conceive, derive 
its authority entirely from the commission given by the govern- 
ment of the United States to Major General Scott. « 

Be that as it may, the request, recommendation, or agree- 
ment, (whatever it was) was immediately complied with and 
performed on the part of Maine, under the sanction of the 
National Government; and under a full reliance, also, upon its 
guarantee against any adverse military occupation of any part of 
the disputed territory by Great Britain. Upon the proposition 



40. NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. (Muroh 

made by General Scott to Sir Joliii Harvey, it was signified 
by tlie latter not to be his intention, under the expected renewal 
of negotiations between the cabinets of London and Washing- 
ton, on the subject of the disputed territory, without renewed 
instructions from his Government, to seek to take military pos- 
session of that territory, or to seek by military force to expel 
the armed civil posse or the troops of Maine. 

This being, in the view entertained by Governor Fairfield, 
tlie exact contingency contemplated by the Legislature in the 
foregoing Resolves, lie did not hesitate to conform to the stip- 
ulation, by recalling the troops of Maine at once, and dismis- 
sing them to their homes. It appeared to be the course 
prescribed to him by the Legislature ; such a one as might be 
adopted without compromising the rights or dignity of the State, 
which had never, as he stated, proposed to take military pos- 
session of the territory. Our objects had been only, in the 
first place, to protect the territory from devastation by trespas- 
sers ; and secondly, to resist the opposite threats of expulsion 
by military power. Our militia had maintained their ground, 
while the exigency that called them out remained. "When that 
was removed, the withdrawal of the troops was no abandon- 
ment of any position taken by this State. An ordinary civil 
posse was thereupon substituted, and stationed at one or two 
points only upon the Aroostook and St. John, barely sufiicient 
for the intended purpose of preventing trespass. 

It is unnecessary to mention, that, under all these circum- 
stances, the presence of any actual or impending military force 
upon our frontier was presumed to lia\ e been entirely removed. 
Such appears to have been the persuasion of Governor Fair- 
field wiien he prepared to meet the Legislature at the opening 
of the session of 1840. Bui the communication he was about 
to make was obliged to be modified by the information which 
reached him, in reply to an inquiry he had addressed to Sir 
John Harvey, founded on previous rumor, that the British 
Government was about taking a military possession of the region 



1S41.] SENATE.— No. 19. 41 

of Madawaska. In this reply, it was acknoulodged, that one 
or two companies had been stationed at Temiscouata Lake ; 
that this was done, however, not by orders from him, the 
Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick, but by virtue of au- 
thority superior to his, namely, that of the Government of 
Lower Canada. Through less oflicial sources, accounts were 
received, about the same time, of the building of barracks by 
the British Government near the mouth of Madawaska river, 
on the St. John. These movements were naturally regarded 
by Governor Fairfield, under whatever branch of British au- 
thority, or upon whatever pretence, they might be made, not 
more clearly as a violation of the spirit of the arrangement that 
had been adopted in the March previous, than as an absolute 
invasion of our territory, and as such, demanding the imme- 
diate and vigorous interposition of the General Government 
enjoined by the Constitution and lav^s of the United States. 
In an ensuing correspondence, these measures on the part of 
the British were justified or defended by their Minister at 
Washington, on the grounds of a general report, of which that 
Government was said to be fully aware, charging the Legisla- 
ture of Maine with the intention, during its then session, of 
revoking the provisional agreements then in force, and autho- 
rizing some new and extensive, nameless, act of aggression 
over the stipulated territory. From this offensive charge the 
State of Maine was justly vindicated by the Secretary of the 
United States ; and the imputation was repelled with an equally 
measured force and propriety of expression ; and this vindica- 
tion was accompanied with a due demand for the removal of 
the invading force. 

The Legislature at its next session, by its Resolves of 
March IS, 1840, gratefully acknowledged the patriotic enthu- 
siasm with which several of our sister States had, during the 
preceding year, tendered their aid to repel threatened foreign 
invasion, and hailed the pervading spirit of self sacrifice and 
devotion to national lionor throughout the Union, as auspicious 
6 



42 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [March 

to preserving the integrity of our territory. They recognized, 
moreover, in hiie manner, the promptness and unanimity with 
which the last Congress, at the call of the State, had placed 
at the disposal of the President the arms and treasures of the 
nation, for our defence ; and they regarded the firmness of its 
Executive in sustaining the course of the State, and in repel- 
ling the charge of any infraction of arrangement on the part of 
this State, and retorting a violation of agreement upon the 
British Government, and the decision manifested in demanding 
the removal of the British troops then quartered on the dispu- 
ted territory as the only guarantee of a sincere desire for an 
amicahle settlement of the boundary question, — all these acts 
of the Government, combined with the union of public senti- 
ment, they looked upon and regarded as affording confident 
assurance that this State would not be compelled single-handed 
to take up arms in defence of its territory and of national 
honor ; and they further avowed the conviction that the crisis 
was near, when this question would be settled by the J\'otional 
Government, either by negotiation, or by the ultimate resort. 

It was, moreover, resolved, that unless the British Govern- 
ment should, during the then session of Congress, make or 
accept a distinct and satisfactory proposition for the immediate 
adjustment of the boundary question, it would be the duly of 
the General Government to take military possession of the 
disputed territory ; and the Legislature did therein, in the name 
of a sovereign State, call upon the National Government to 
fulfil its constitutional obligation to establish the line, which 
they had acknowledged to be the true boundary, and to protect 
this State in extending her jurisdiction to the utmost limits of 
our territory. 

And finally, these Resolves declared, that this State had a 
right to expect that the General Government would extend to 
this member of the Union, by negotiation or bv arms, the pro- 
tection of her territorial rights, guaranteed by the Federal 
compact ; and thus to save her from the necessity of recurring 



1841.] SENATE.— No. 19 43 

to those ultimate rights of self defence and self protection, 
which do not depend upon constitutional forms ; and they con- 
cluded that should this confidence be disappointed, in view of 
such a speedy crisis, it would become the imperative duty of 
Maine to assume the defence of the State and of national honor, 
and to expel from our limits the British troops then quartered 
upon our territory. 

In proposing to take an observation 'of our exact position, 
and in regard to our situation, under the terms and import of 
cur Legislative Resolves, and under all the circumstances in 
which we are necessarily placed, at the present period, the 
Committee would remark that they have been guided by the 
public documents, that have emanated from the Governments 
of the United States and of this State, so far as they have ex- 
tended ; it so happening that there has been no Report, such 
as was formerly usual from the Standing Committee upon this 
subject, for the last two years. The active duties in which 
the State has been necessarily engaged during that interval, 
may naturally account for the omission ; and the Committee 
may be permitted to allude to it, as an apology, if one is to be 
offered, for the more extended range which the present Report 
has taken, in regard more particularly to the transactions and 
events of the last three or four years, which 'have been so 
pregnant with momentous concerns and consequences. 

The last Legislature, it has been noticed, invoked the Gen- 
eral Government for protection and for the settlement of this 
question shortly by negotiation or by arms ; and unless a dis- 
tinct and satisfactory proposition for the immediate adjustment 
of the question should be made or accepted by the British 
Government during the session of Congress, which expired 
last year, it solicited the General Government to take military 
possession of the disputed territory. 

In view of these Resolves, the Committee would remark, 
first, that the appropriation made by Congress in 1839, making 
extraordinary provision for military force, and for a special 



44 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [March 

embassy to England, had already expired, at ihe passage ol' 
those Resolves. Instead of adopting this last course, which 
appeared to be recommended by Congress, and which might 
have been the means of at least preventing the long delays 
required by interchanges across tlie Atlantic, (without making 
any remark, for which there might well be room, on the in- 
structions to Mr. Stevenson, of March 6, 1S39) it seems that 
the ordinary sluggish course of negotiation was resumed, and it 
was to be carried on thenceforward at \yashington. 

Soon after the close of the session of the Legislature in 1839, 
and the termination of that matter, a proposition was made by 
the British Government to our ov.n for establishing a commis- 
sion of exploration and survey, but one so loaded with such 
limitations and qualifications as to cause its rejection by the 
President at once. Subsequently, in the course of the next 
summer, a counter project w^as submitted to the British Gov- 
ernment, which included a provision for the certain and final 
adjustment of the hmits in dispute ; and it was kept by that 
government for some time under consideration. It seems no 
reply had been received by the President at the commencement 
of the session of Congress in December (1S39.) In the 
meantime the British Government instituted the special com- 
mission, which Jias been referred to, for the exploration of the 
territory. It appeared by a subsequent official communication 
from Lord Pulmerston to Mr. Fox, laid before Parliament in 
June 1840, "that the British Government then concurred with 
" the United States in the opinion, that the next measure to be 
" taken by the two governments should contain, in its details, 
" arrangements which should necessarily lead to some final set- 
" tlement." At the same time the British Government signi- 
nified its willingness to assent to the principle of arbitration. 

The note from Mr. Fox to Mr. Forsyth, conveying this 
concurrence and assent, dated June 22d, 1840, according to 
his instructions, purported to slate officially, "that her Majes- 
" ty's Government consent to the two principles, which form 



1841.] SENATE— No. 11). .15 

" the main foundation of the Amrrican coinitcr draft, namely ; 
" first, that the Commission to be appointed, shall be so consii- 
" tuted, as necessarily to lead to a final settlement of the 
" question of boundary at issue between the two countries ; 
" and secondly, that in order to secure such a result, the 
" Convention, by which the Commission is to be created, shall 
" contain a provision for arbitration upon points, as to which 
" the ])ritish and American Commissioners may not be able to 
" agree." But it was further added, that there w-ere " many 
" matters of detail in the American counter draft, which her 
"Majesty's Government cannot adopt." 

The last President's annual Message, at the opening of the 
late session of Congress, announced the arrival of the answer 
from that Government, accompanied by additional propositions 
of its own, some of which were assented to, and others not. 
Such as were deemed correct in principle, and consistent with 
a due regard to the just rights of the United States and of the 
State of Maine, were concurred in ; and the reasons for dis- 
senting from the residue, together with an additional suggestion 
on our part, communicated by the Secretary of State to the 
British Minister at Washington, through whom the recent reply 
had been received. The matter was again referred by that 
Minister to his Government for its further decision, for want of 
instructions upon some of the points, and that Government 
having for some time had the subject under advisement, the 
President expressed his confident expectation of a speedy and 
satisfactory termination. 

That the condition, or contingency, required by the Legisla- 
ture of Maine, at the last session, to the execution of its 
resolutions, has not taken place, in terms, is quite obvious. 
How far the State should rest satisfied with the reasons and 
circumstances assigned for the delay, or is bound to resign itself 
to this interminable course of procrastination, is not ])erliaps 
quite so clear. The State cannot forget its |)roper j)osition ill 
the Union, nor fail of the obligations it is under to abide the 



46 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [iMurcb 

high behests of our supreme national counsels. At the same 
time it is absolutely impossible to reconcile itself to this system 
of endless delay, and this continual claim upon the inexhausti- 
ble confidence of our General Government in the equal dispo- 
sition of both parties to bring the subject to a decisive conclu- 
sion. The original proposition of our own Government 
included " a provision looking in terms for a certain and final 
" adjustment of the Zijn?7s in dispute.^^ And all that we are 
definitely led to understand, that the British Government gives 
its assent to, from the language of Lord Palmerston is, that the 
next measure to be adopted should contain — not in its absolute 
provisions — but its details, arrangements that should necessarily 
lead to some final adjustment ! This prospect appears to the 
Committee, from the very form of statement, to be far from 
promising ; and what is more observable in regard to the plan, 
it seems to have a reference to some more or less direct 
principle of determination to which the State has already signi- 
fied its entire aversion. What may be the effect of the addi- 
tional stipulation sent out, we do not know ; nor can the 
Committee tell what is to be the alternative. But Maine can 
feel no assurance of safety or successful progress towards a 
conclusion in these vague, involved, and distant phrases. It is 
undoubtedly difficult to say that any course deliberately acceded 
to by our own Government would be likely to prove a delu- 
sion ; but there is no certainty yet, nor any security when the 
subject will be redeemed from the arts and complications of 
diplomacy. The Committee must say, they arc not sanguine 
as to any prospect of a speedy or satisfactory conclusion to 
the present state of negotiation. AH the propositions now 
pending, as presented to their minds, appear to them to be 
purely dilatory. 

It is impossible, therefore, your Committee confess, to con- 
sider the language of the last Resolves as perfectly satisfied ; 
though, that the whole subject is not placed in such a condition 
as in some measure to elude the operation of those resolutions, 



1841.] SENATE.— No. 19. 47 

according to their literal force and meaning, is more than tlie 
Committee can undertake to say ; and no less so, perhaps, 
whether it is in the power of the national Government to bring 
the business to a point, otherwise than by a positive rupture. 
The fact may be, that it is not in our power to relieve our- 
selves ; and that we must suffer the mortification of having 
holden language, which we cannot carry out without compro- 
mising our constitutional relations. But it is needless to 
remark, that there is no end to this course of diplomacy so 
long as it serves the purpose of delay, and to stave off a fmal 
determination. The postponement is indefinite ; and we can- 
not but fear it will ever continue so, so long as Great Britain 
finds her advantage in keeping open a question, that can never 
be decided in her favor, and in the mean time enjoys the value 
of a possession which she must eventually yield, or employs 
herself to strengthen a position she is not disposed to surrender, 
nor entitled to hold. From whatever cause the difficulty arises 
most, whether from an aversion on her part to come to an 
issue, or a reluctance and unwillingness on that of our own 
Government to precipitate one, which can by any means be 
avoided, it is apparent that the adjournment of it is equally 
detrimental to the rights and interests of Maine. Your Com- 
mittee would be among the last to undervalue sincere and well 
directed efforts to bring about an adjustment, at once peaceful 
and rightful, of the controversy ; but they have seen too much 
cause to be convinced, that such a disposition, however just 
and creditable, may be abused. 

The Committee may perhaps view themselves called upon 
to consider the effect of the stipulations adopted in 1839, under 
the authority of the Resolves of that year, or under the further 
advice and sanction of Major General Scott, acting under and 
in behalf of the Government of the United States. 

They may observe, that nothing was considered to be done 
by Maine under the conventional agreement entered into and 
signed by Mr. Forsyth, the Secretary of State, and Mr. Fox, 



48 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [March 

ihe British Minister, on the 27th of February 1839. Without 
questioning the competency of the two parties to enter into 
such an arrangement between themselves, or the propriety of 
recommending it lo the acceptance of the State of Maine, its 
obligatory force was not acknowledged by Governor Fairfield, 
who observed in his communication of it to the Legislature: 
" To such an arrangement I trust Elaine will never consent. 
" She has been sufficiently trammelled hitherto in the exercise 
" of her rights, and will not voluntarily forge new shackles for 
"herself." 

The authority of the Governor, as the Committee view it, 
to bind the State by his signature to any public stipulation, was 
necessarily limited by the laws and constitution of the State. 
His authority in this instance was entirely derived from the 
Resolves of 1839 : and your Committee not only do not un- 
derstand, that he did not Intend to exceed it ; but they do 
understand, that what he did, he mtended in strict and faithful 
execution of the immediate objects of those Resolves. Such 
was his language in reporting and communicating what he had 
done, in virtue of those Resolves, to the next Legislature ; and 
such is the understanding of the Committee equally in regard to 
the import of the act on his part, and the character of the 
subject. The Resolves have been already recited. All the 
information the Legislature have of w hat was done by Governor 
Fairfield, under the Resolves, is contained in his subsequent 
communication to the Legislature the following year ; and it is 
subjoined to a simple statement of having received the written 
assent of the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick to the 
following proposition made to him by Major General Scott : to 
wit, " that it is not the intention of the Lieutenant Governor of 
" her Britannic Majesty's Province of New Brunswick, under 
" the expected renewal of negotiations between the Cabinets of 
" London and Washington, on the subject of the said disputed 
'' territory, without renewed instructions to that eflect from his 
*' Government, to seek to take military possession of that ter- 



1(341.] SENATE.-No. 19. 4^ 

" ritory, or to seek by military force to expel the arnuHl civil 
*' posse or the troops of Maine." The residue of the corres- 
pondence has not been, that your Committee are aware, 
communicated to the Legislature. 

The stipulation, therefore, entered into by Governor Fair- 
field, under the invitation and sanction of General Scott, is, as 
your Committee understand, perfectly fulfilled ; and the Re- 
solve of 1839 is therefore executed, and has been faithfully 
observed. The mission of General Scott to Maine was ac- 
complished ; and Governor Fairfield, having recalled the mili- 
tary, professed his willingness not, without renewed instructions 
from the Legislature, to re-occupy the field of dispute in the 
like manner. Here the immediate controversy subsided. 
Governor Fairfield may be deemed to have endorsed the agree- 
ment made for him by General Scott ; who thereby undertook 
to guarantee, so far as he was capable, to the State of Maine, 
the counter security of the territory against the military opera- 
tions of Sir John Harvey. 

Such was the posture of Governor Fairfield, and the situa- 
tion of Maine, in relation to the subject, touching the matter 
of arrangement. Soon afterwards, it would seem, that Sir 
John Harvey was divested of all further authority over the 
subject ; and any power of a military kind in that quarter ap- 
peared to be transferred from him to the Government of Lower 
Canada. It may be noticed as a circumstance, that this silent 
operation, or transmutation, took place about the same time that 
the British Commission of exploration was closing its business, 
and shifting the highland description, v/hich formed the southern 
boundary of Quebec or Canada, to the hypotlietical maximum 
axis of elevation south of the St. John. It is not understood, 
however, that any corresponding change took place in regard 
to the usurping civil authorities at Madawaska. This alteration 
first disclosed itself, in that quarter, by the movement of mili- 
tary force from the side of Lower Canada to certain stations 
within the disputed territory; and in reply to a letter of inquiry 



50 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARV. [March 

from Governor Fairfield into the meaning of so apparent and 
palpable an infringement of the arrangement entered into under 
the mediation of General Scott, Sir John Harvey could only ' 
answer, as before, that these movements were made under an 
authority superior to his own. It was added, that they were 
meant for the protection of certain buildings which had been 
constructed for the better accommodation of her Majesty's 
troops, on their march between the Lower and Upper Provin- 
ces, and of the provisions, stores, and other public property 
therein deposited ; and it was further subjoined, by Sir John 
Harvey, that he should communicate a copy of the letter to 
the authorities in Canada, who, he was assured, would be as 
scrupulously desirous that the spirit, as well as the letter, of 
the agreement entered into, should be observed on their part, 
as he himself was. The remonstrance, however, produced no 
further effect ; and this last December, upon the occasion of a 
new detachment of troops having arrived at the Madawaska 
settlement. Sir John Harvey deemed it consistent with the 
sincerity which had always marked his intercourse with the 
authorities of Maine, to apprise Governor Fairfield of the fact, 
and that tlie movement was made by the orders of the Governor 
General of those Provinces. It was evident that this move- 
ment was unadvised by Sir John Harvey, who could only 
apologize or account for it by reference to the complaints of 
certain civil authorities at that settlement, (one of them a sup- 
posed magistrate, and the other the pretended "Warden of the 
Disputed Territory,") which it had no other object than to 
support. And Sir John Harvey did not hesitate to express to 
the Governor General his persuasion, that the movement for 
this purpose was needless, and that a corresponding armed civil 
posse to that of Maine would be quite adequate to prevent 
any unauthorized interference with the inhabitants or authorities 
of the Madawaska settlements. 

The Committee would take leave to observe, that they know 
of no settlements bearing that name but the original and proper 



1811.] SENATE— No. 19. 51 

settlement of Madawaska. That is a spot, or settlement, with 
which the civil authorities of Maine have not interfered, since 
those who undertook to act under a law of the State, in organ- 
izing the place in 1832, were seized, imprisoned, and punished 
at Fredericton for the offence, excepting the like seisure and 
imprisonment of Greeley for taking the census in 1837. As 
to what is supposed to have occurred at Fish River, it is stated 
as having been represented to Governor Fairfield, that it took 
place when certain of the citizens of this State were assembled 
at the Fish River settlement to give in their votes at the recent 
election for President and Vice President, under a late law of 
this State authorizing it. Tlie territory contiguous to the 
mouth of Fish River, on both sides of the St. John, is not 
considered, in any proper sense, as included in the Madawaska 
settlement ; which is confined to the immediate vicinity of that 
river, and does not extend up even to the mouth of the Meri- 
umpticook. To the original and proper limit of the old Mada- 
waska settlement the adverse, local possession ought, in the 
opinion of your Committee, to be reduced ; and it ought to be 
restored, and confined strictly, to its former civil character. 

To return, however ; the Committee w^ould not fail to treat 
the species of arrangement in question, under whatever authority 
it was entered into, with all the respect to which it is entitled, 
and to render it all proper regard and observance. Having 
punctually complied with any obligation, that might be deemed 
to be entered into on the part of INIaine, it is of no consequence 
as to the origin of the agency ; which is of no further impor- 
tance, than that the State should stand clear of any reproach 
upon her good faith and allegiance. It cannot be pretended, 
that there has been any failure upon her part to fulfil any duty 
that may have been imposed upon her, in whatever way or 
manner she may have been committed. The imputation cast 
upon her, at one time, to say the least, without sufficient cause 
and consideration, of any intention to break through the engage- 
ments she was placed under, has been repelled with no less 



52 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [March 

force, tlian truth. But it is obvious, that any obligation of 
this nature, to be effectual, must be mutual. It is plain, that it 
cannot be violated on one side at will, and preserve all its bind- 
ing force upon the other. The Committee are not called to 
make any complaint of any breach of agreement between the 
authorities of this State and of New Brunswick upon the sub- 
ject. They much doubt, as they have already signified, the 
competency of any arrangement between the State and a for- 
eign Province, without a constitutional sanction which has not 
yet been asked ; and they should hesitate no less upon the 
propriety and expediency of any convention or co-operation 
between two opposite governments, or communities, situated 
and related as these are, for purposes which this State, as they 
conceive, ought either to take upon herself, or to be entitled 
to call upon the General Government to perform, or to pro- 
vide, for her. As to the policy, as well as the principle, of 
any different course that has been proposed to her, the Com- 
mittee can have no doubt at all. If any compact exists, or 
any is violated, in whatever form it has been made, it must be 
one between the Governments of Great Britain and the United 
States ; and such, as it is the province of the latter, and not 
that of this State, to see to the effect of, and look after its ob- 
servance. We do not hold ourselves entitled to call upon a 
foreign government for its performance. Our relations are 
properly with the Government of the United States, upon a 
subject of this kind, only. It is their agreements and stipula- 
tions in regard to our security, upon which we must be under- 
stood to rely ; and we cannot be deemed to have given our 
consent to any provisionary arrangement, except under the 
sanction of our own Government, and its guarantee of our own 
safety. In short, it must be the essence of any agreement 
entered into by us, that it should be with, and through, the 
Government of the United States ; although we may well view 
and hold ourselves as bound to fulfil any proper stipulations, 
that the Government has actually made upon our behalf by its 



1841.] SENATE.— No. 19. .03 

own officers, and with the consent of our Executive agents and 
Legislative authorities. 

The Committee consider it to have been well observed, by 
the Governor in his official communication to both branches of 
the Legislature, on commencing the duties of his office, that 
" whatever arrangements have been assented to, in regard to 
" the jurisdiction of different portions of the territory, pending 
" negotiations, must be regarded merely as temporary in their 
" nature ;" as well as " under a protest always that we relin- 
" quish no claim, and no right, to the absolute and undisputed 
"ownership and jurisdiction of every inch of our State." It 
is a matter, which must force itself upon the mind of every 
reflecting friend of the peace of the two countries, as it has 
done, that these sub-arrangements, or understandings, are of 
too slight and precarious a texture to permit the tranquillity of 
these neighboring communities to rest upon them. 

The arrangement understood to be assented to on the part 
of Maine in 1839, by which, on condition that Maine should 
remain in undisturbed possession of the rest of the territory, it 
was stipulated, that we should not attempt to disturb by arms 
the Province of New Brunswick in its proper Madawaska pos- 
session, was only acquiesced in, as the Governor further 
remarks, in his communication, " by the people, on the ground 
and the belief that immediate and determined efforts w^ere to 
be, in good faith, adopted by both General Governments, to 
bring the matter to a speedy, just, and final determination. 
Indulging such hopes," the Governor also adds, " Maine has 
certainly yielded much in the matter of temporary arrange- 
ments, influenced by the wish to preserve the peace of the 
, country, and to remove all obstacles to the progress of nego- 
tiations. But she has a right to ask," (he subjoins, with no 
undue emphasis,) "when she yields so much, that her motives 
should be appreciated, and her cause become the cause of the 
whole country, and be pressed with vigor and energy to a final 
settlement." 



64 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [March 

Earnest and strong as is the desire of this discreet and de- 
termined community to reinain at peace with her neighbors on 
this continent, still she can no longer give any consent to the 
exercise of provincial authority out of the proper orbit of 
Madawaska. Neiiher can this State enter into any temporary 
partition of its ov.n power with a foreign province, or agree to 
the exercise of any equal, divided, or concurrent authority, 
either with New Brunswick or Canada, over any other part of 
her own exclusive territory. Still loss, if it be possible, can 
she endure to see the portion of which the Provincial Govern- 
ment, whether above or below, still claim to be in possession, 
(and the only portion to which it ever had any shadow of pre- 
tence,) converted into a military depot, as avowed by Sir John 
Harvey to Governor Fairfield, in the first place, by the erec- 
tion of barracks, and the collection of stores, provisions, and 
other munitions of a hostile character, under the name of public 
property, for establishing a cordon of military communication 
between the upper and the lower British Provinces. This is 
bringing upon us in time of peace, (to us the most profound, 
unless we are aroused or awaken,) all the forms of almost un- 
masked war. It realizes, in advance of the result of any arbi- 
trary process for the division of our disputed territory with 
Great Britain, the dangerous character of this decided military 
demonstration within our limits. It advises and admonishes us, 
moreover, of the rather too obvious and undisguised meaning 
of a noticeable and striking passage in the letter of the British 
Minister, Mr. Fox, to Mr. Forsyth, dated Nov. 2, 1839, in 
which he remarks, that "whatever shall be the line of boun- 
dary between Her Majesty's possessions and the republic of 
the United States, definitely recognized and decided upon 
by the two governments, either through the attainment of the 
true line of the Treaty of 1783, or through the adoption of a 
conventional line, Her jNIajesty's Government will have to rely 
upon the Federal Government of the United States to assist 
and carry out the decision, whatever may be the views and 



1S41.] SENATE.— No. 19. 55 

pretensions of the inhabitants of the State of Maine notwith- 
standing." 

Your Committee may here remark, that when these facts, 
in regard to the stationing of regular mihtary forces by the 
British provincial authorities upon Lake Temiscouata, and of 
their building barracks, as represented, at the confluence of the 
Madawaska river with the St. John, were brought to the direct 
knowledge of the National Government, they were pronounced 
by the President to be a flagrant contravention of the existing 
understanding between the parties ; and those authorities were 
distinctly and emphatically admonished, through their regular 
Minister, of the obvious inexpediency and imprudence of such 
proceedings, and of the effect likely to arise from persistence 
in them. 

The only explanation produced by this expressive remon- 
strance was conveyed in the shape of a letter from Mr. Fox to 
Mr. Forsyth, of January 24th, 1840, to the effect that the 
movement complained of was nothing new, and that it was 
only a change of force to keep up the station at the Temis- 
couata post, as it always had been, " for the necessary purpose 
" of protecting the stores and accommodations provided for the 
" use of her INIajesty's troops, who may be required, as here- 
" tofore, to march by that route to and from the Provinces of 
" Canada and New Brunswick." It was not admitted that any 
new barracks had been built, or were building by the British 
authorities on both sides of the St. John, or at the mouth of 
the Madawaska river, or in fact anywhere ; and it was declared 
that no intention existed on the part of those authorities to 
infringe the terms of the provisional agreements, that had been 
entered into the year before, so long as there was reason to 
trust that the same would be faitlifully adhered to by the oppo- 
site party. But it was at the same lime plainly avowed, that 
her Majesty's authorities in North America, observing the atti- 
tude assumed by the State of Maine with reference to the 
boundary question, would, as then advised, be governed en- 



66 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [March 

tirely by circumstances, in adopting such measures of defence 
and protection, whether along the confines of the disputed ter- 
ritory, or within that portion of it inhere the authority of Great 
Britain, according to its oxen explanation of the existing agree- 
ments, was not to be interfered with, as might seem to them 
necessary for guarding against or for promptly repelling the 
further acts of what was termed hostile aggression, VN-hich it 
appeared to be the avowed design of the State of Maine, 
sooner or later, to attempt. Her Majesty's authorities in 
North America, it was averred, had no intention on their part 
to interfere with the course of pending negotiation, by the ex- 
ercise of military force ; but that they should as then at pre- 
sent advised, " consult their own discretion in adopting the 
" measures of defence, that might be rendered necessary by 
" the threats of a violent interruption to the negotiation, which 
" had been used by all parties in oMaiue, confirmed, it was 
" alleged, by the language employed by the highest official 
" authority (alluding to the recent message and correspondence 
" of the Governor) in that State." 

The official reply to this plain note professed to express the 
satisfaction of the President, that no actual change was under- 
stood to have taken place in the attitude of her Majesty's au- 
thorities in the territory, since the dale of the arrangements 
entered into ; and that there was no intention to infringe them 
on their part, so long as their terms were faithfully observed 
on the side of the United Slates. It signified, however, much 
regret, that the British colonial authorities should, without 
graver motives than a mere possibility of a departure from 
those arrangements by the State of Maine, thus take upon 
themselves the fearful responsibility of being guided by circum- 
stances, susceptible as those were of misapprehension and mis- 
conception, in regard to measures of precaution and defence, 
under this exercise of discretion, against imagined acts of 
meditated aggression on the part of Maine. And the ho]>e 
was further expressed, with how little effect we have witnessed. 



1841. SENATE— No. 10. 57 

ihat when the British Government at home should he apprised 
of the position assumed in this respect by its colonial agents 
here, proper steps would be taken to place the performance of 
express and solemn agreements, in effect, upon a more secure 
and solid basis than such a precarious sort of contingent colo- 
nial discretion. 

It could scarcely have escaped notice in regard to the 
character of this correspondence, that a change had oc- 
curred in the style, if not in the attitude, of the British 
Provincial authorities in America. Vour Committee, how- 
ever, arc not aware, whether the a:tention of the Federal 
Government was inmiediately drawn to the circumstance, 
that these forces seemed to have been detached and sta- 
tioned there under the positive orders of the new Gov- 
ernor General of the British Provinces ; nor are they apprised 
of the precise bearing which this circumstance might be consid- 
ered to have, in the view of the National Government, upon the 
character of the arrangements, deemed to have been subscribed 
to by the authorities of Maine and New Brunswick, under its 
own high auspices. It has become apparent, at least since 
then, that the authority of the Lieutenant Governor of New 
Brunswick is rendered subordinate in this respect to that of the 
Governor General of her Britannic Majesty's dominions ; that 
there has been some new partition, or subdivision, by which 
w bile the civil authority to be exercised in that region still resides 
in the Government of New Brunswick, the military power by 
which this State was menaced is transferred into other and 
higher hands ; and all that Sir John Harvey can say, when he 
is apprised of our remonstrances and complaints is, that we 
must appeal to his superiors. 

It may be recollected, that enquiry was made soon afterward 
by the Senate of the United States, at its session a year ago, 
whether any measures had been taken under the act of Congress 
of March od, 1839, or otherwise, to cause the removal or 
expulsion, of the British troops which had taken possession of 
s 8 



58 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [Marcli 

ihis portion of the territory of Maine, or uliether any military 
posts had heen cstahHshed in Maine, or any other measures of 
a mihtary nature adopted preparatory to a just vindication of 
the honor and the rights of the Nation and of Maine. The 
reply to this inquiry from the Secretary of War, through the 
President was, that the circumstance of the occupation of the 
territory by British troops had been but recently communicated; 
and having been made asubject of remonstrance and so become 
a matter of discussion between the two governments, no meas- 
ures had been taken of the character referred to under the act 
of Congress or otherwise. To the residue of the inquiry it 
was answered, that no contingency contemplated by the act of 
1839 having occurred, no military measures had been thought 
necessary ; repeating what had been previously stated by the 
President in his annual message to Congress. The Secretary 
further stated, that a military reconnoisance had been made in 
1838 of the undisputed boundary of Maine, of which the result 
bad been transmitted to the Senate the following session ; but 
that there being no appropriation made, no fortifications were 
commenced. It will be understood, that the other appro- 
priations have expired. 

From the parting communication made by our late Chief 
Magistrate, at the commencement of the present session, the 
Legislature is informed, that Maine is again subject to the mor- 
tification of having fresh troops (juartered upon her territor}-. 
The causes alleged for this renewed outrage, and the circum- 
stances by which it is attempted to be palliated in the letter of 
Sir John Harvey, are so trivial, as justly observed by Governor 
Fairfield to hardly afibrd a decent pretext for thus adding an- 
other to the catalogue of wrongs and injuries which the people 
of this State have so long been compelled to endure at the 
hands of the British Government. So sensible was Sir John 
Harvey himself, we may remark, of the slenderncss of this 
pretence, and of the :^uperfluousness of this further force, 



1841.] SENATE— Nu. 10. 59 

that in conveying this information, as he claimed to do with his 
accustomed frankness, of the recent arrival of a new detach- 
ment of Her Majesty's troops at JNladawaska, he avowed he 
had not hesitated to give his opinion at once to the Governor 
General that it was unnecessary, and that he had no doubt that 
the Governor General, on this suggestion, would forthwith give 
directions for withdrawing the troops. This communication 
came dated December 10th last ; and the same, together with 
the Governor's reply, requesting further information upon the 
subject, were transmitted to the President within a few days 
after ; and the former expressed his full reliance, that if the 
suggestion of Sir John Harvey to the Governor General should 
prove unavailing, the Executive Government of the United 
States would forthwith take measures for the withdrawal or 
expulsion of these troops from our territory. Since this last 
period the Legislature has received no official information from 
any source. Nothing has reached us but rumors from the ad- 
jacent provinces, that the mihtary position in question was in- 
tended to be maintained ; and there has nothing yet come 
from any quarter to tranquilize and assure us further. 

The Committee have gone into these details more fully, in 
order to place the subject in all its extent before the Legisla- 
ture, for their consideration at its present session. The Re- 
solves passed the last day of the session, March 23d, 1S39, 
pledged the power of the State to the protection of its territory 
up to its extremest limits, and asserted the right of exclusive 
jurisdiction over the whole extent of it. And they denied the 
efficacy of any agreement entered into by the Government of 
the Union to impair her prerogative to be the sole judge of 
the time and manner of enforcing that right. The Slate had, 
however, the guarantee of the General Government at that 
time, that if it would withdraw her military force from the 
frontier, the adverse military power, with which it was threat- 
ened, should immediately be caused to cease upon tlie other 
side. This guarantee the State afterwards accepted ; and in 



60 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [March 

consequence of this and of the agreement to that effect entered 
into by the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick, Maine 
did promptly and unhesitatingly withdraw her advanced military 
force. That pledge has not been performed ; or if apparently 
so for a brief period, it has not been fulfdled ; but it has been 
openly and deliberately violated. We may have been slow in 
coming to this conviction ; but the fact cannot be concealed, 
and is hardly attempted to be disguised. As the matter now 
stands, the State is without any barrier, or boundary, against 
the Provinces of Great Britain, not even where the north line 
crosses the St. John. Barracks have been erected above that 
point ; boats have been built upon the Lake ; troops stationed 
at different posts, stores, and munitions of war collected, con- 
stituting an actual military and naval armament ; which is at this 
moment established upon the shores and waters of the iNLada- 
waska region, contrary to all the stipulations and mutual en- 
gagements of the two governments. And Maine is compelled 
to forget, if she can, that all this is done within a precinct spe- 
cially incorporated by an act of her Legislature, the %'alidity of 
which is also recognized and confirmed by an act of Congress. 
It may properly be avowed, that Maine may still consider 
herself to stand pledged for the present, by the course that has 
been pursued by her authorities under the sanction of the Gen- 
eral Government, not to disturb by any active proceedings of 
hers the British Provincial, that is to say, local possession at 
Madawaska ; while, at the same time, she must be allowed to 
extend her civil power, for the protection of her territory 
against devastation, without any limitation as to the sphere of 
its operation, within the bounds of the Treaty of 1783; but 
that to suffer a military occupation of any portion of it is in- 
compatible with her existence and character as an independent 
State. She may well submit to the moral and self-imposed 
restraint of forbearing to exercise her given faculties, and to 
exert her lawful righis up io their full extent ; but she cannot, 
with the same comfort or consistency, yield a silent and unre- 



1S41,] SENATE.— No. 19. Gl 

sistiiig submission to the operation, until it becomes over- 
whelming, of absolute superior force. She may accord a loyal 
and becoming obedience to the graver authority of the Union ; 
but she cannot, without extreme, unmitigated pain, see any 
part of her soil subtracted and reduced to exterior colonial 
subjection ; nor can she bear to have a foreign military force 
planted upon her with any more patience than our fathers could 
endure the same species of intolerable oppression. She 
acknowledges faithfully her obligations to the Union, and that 
she is bound to consult the feelings and opinions of the country, 
and to make no further movement, moreover, without mvoking 
its aid, or asking its authority. But this is the point, at which 
she unavoidably stands, and her fidelity entitles her to its con- 
fidence, and her necessity to its constitutional support. 

Now all this, it may be admitted, might be tolerated, per- 
haps, by the Union, for the sake of tranquility, if it was not 
pregnant with such real danger, and did not involve so much 
evil, in the way of injury and sacrifice, to the prospects and 
peace of Maine. Winter, which shuts up the St. La\\rence, 
and pours hosts of trespassers and marauders into our woods 
and forests, closes down upon us with an increased pressure 
from the military power of Great Britain. Between the Gov- 
ernment of Canada above, and that of New Brunswick below, 
we are pressed, as between the upper and the nether millstone. 
We are thus obviously exposed to a doubly increased damage 
from our open and unguarded situation upon the borders of 
these different dependencies upon a distant foreign government; 
so far off, and thus situated in regard to us, that "oceans roll 
and seasons pass between the order and the execution"; or 
possibly the advice and recal. Our territory is now more than 
made a complete thoroughfare for the passage of British troops; 
while we have even no projects of national fortifications to pro- 
tect us any further than Houlton, nearer than at the Forks of 
the Kennebec, or the mouth of the Mattawamkeag. 

Even the Military Road,jwhich was authorized by Congress, so 



(32 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [March 

long ago as 1828, to be laid outio liie mouth of the Madawaska 
river, in virtue of what the succeeding President, General 
Jackson, declared to be an unquestionable right, the exercise 
of which the American Government would not allow to be 
restrained by the protest of the Lieutenant Governor of New 
Brunswick, but only to be postponed for the time being — as 
expressed by the then Secretary of State, ]Mr. Van Buren, to 
the British Minister, as a proof of forbearance, intended in an 
amicable spirit of conciliation — has so continued ever since, 
and, it would almost seem to be, indefinitely. The appropri- 
ations of 1836 and 1839, by Congress, were sufiered to ex- 
pire ; but this authority has only been suspended ; and it is for 
the Executive Government to determine, whether the period 
has not arrived at which the execution of it ought to be 
resumed. The present condition of the State of Maine cer- 
tainly demands it. 

The Committee are here induced to omit much they might 
otherwise be disposed to say on this subject, and in relation to 
all its immediate and future bearings upon the public peace and 
welfare ; and which they are constrained to do, as well in con- 
sequence of the length to which their remarks liave already 
been extended, as from considerations of a serious kind which 
are not without due weight upon iheir minds. Perhaps they 
ought to say more in regard- to the neglect of preparations for 
defence, in our exposed and unprotected position, the necessity 
of which has long been pointed out and felt, and the power to 
provide for them, even when put in force, suffered to stand a 
dead letter. The State of Maine has had its virtue put to the 
severest test, until even the very length of time that the Gov- 
ernment has delayed its duty, and she has been obliged to 
endure its omission, is liable to be turned against her, and set 
up as on her part a prescriptive sufferance. 

The principal view, which the Committee have had in pre- 
paring this Report, has been to present a further vindication of 
the rights and principles of the State in regard to this subject, 



1S41.] SENATE.— No. 19. 63 

and to the course which her peojjlc and authorities have hith- 
erto pursued, and the position which they now maintain in 
respect thereto. They would wish, not to make a mere appeal 
to the sympathy and fellow feeling of her sister States and to 
the patriotic sensibility of the people of the United States, 
upon points apart from public right and national honor ; but 
they would be no less desirous to extend it to the justice of 
England, and the judgment of Europe, nay of the whole 
world, if so remote a portion of it as the inhabitants of Maine 
could hope to have their cause heard before so vast and elevated 
a tribunal. Nor would they shrink from submitting it to the 
future judgment of posterity and the final sentence of mankind, 
upon its real merits, (not as they may have presented them) 
when the present age shall have passed away, and the accounts 
of the present questions shall have all been closed. They 
would not refuse to commend it to the native "nobleness and 
manliness of Englishmen" — to the generosity which was mani- 
fested in the last painful efi'ort of separation — to that magna- 
nimity displayed by the monarch in proclaiming, as he did, 
with profound emotion, the great dismemberment of the em- 
pire — concerning, that is to say, this long pending question 
with Great Britain, in reference to the true right of a territory 
which is and was always ours, infinitely more than it was ever 
hers ; ours, no less in the first place, by the strength of pri- 
meval right ; ours, also, by the acts of Crown and Parliament, 
as well as by our own energies and achievements, when our 
sires were the loyal subjects of a common sovereign ; ours, if 
she still chooses, by the terms of her own free and full assign- 
ment at the partition of that empire, originally divided by the 
ocean; ours, in fine, by the ancient honor of Great Britain, 
by all the faith of treaties, by the sacred principles of public 
laws, and eternal truth and justice. There is no wish in this 
part of the Union for extension of territory ; we are content 
with our own limits. If injustice has heretofore been done us, 
if justice has not been done us in that respect, or any misfor- 



64 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [March 

tune has attended the decision of points that have ah-eady been 
determined unfavorably to us, we are disposed to abide by it, 
and do not now seek to remedy it. We arc only solicitous to 
enjoy the rights and advantages ■which the laws of nature and 
nations have secured to us, and to realize the benefit of that 
condition which Providence seems to have designed for us 
upon the foundation of State and National Independence. 

Tliere is one circumstance also, in regard to Avhich your 
Committee beheve that the people of Maine would be willing 
that their course and principles should not be misunderstood ; 
although they would not be under any solicitude respecting it. 
It is now a well known fact, not only that Maine has not in any 
manner intermeddled, but that she has uniformly abstained from 
any intermixture of her own causes of complaint with those of 
an exciting nature that have prevailed along further portions ot 
the frontier, and has faithfully kept aloof from mingling her 
concerns with other distant and disturbing questions with Great 
Britain. And this, although she has one interest of great im- 
portance, much involved in the present issue, which has not 
been distinctly developed in the immediate connexion with it. 
The circumstance above alluded to, not perfectly perceived 
and even at first distrusted, was afterwards freely confessed by 
that vigilant and virtuous observer of our course. Sir John 
Harvey, who will retire from his station, when he shall bo 
called away by his sovereign with the esteem of the people of 
Maine. Although inclined at first to credit opposite surmises, 
he soon became convinced of the truth, and, with his character- 
istic candor, communicated it to his own government. Nor is 
it at all unlikely, that a persuasion of this integrity of our pur- 
pose entered into the exercise of that high prudence and proper 
discretion, by which his judgment was determined, in a deli- 
cate and critical emergency. But while it may be well it 
should be understood, that Maine has not been disposed to 
compromit her cause with any foreign matter, your Committee 
would be far from wishing to enter into any vindication 



1841.] SENATE.— No. 19. 66 

upon this point, or be anxious that llie State should set itself 
apart from the just and common feeling of kindred humanity, 
which pervades this vast hemi?i)here. 

Resolutions of the Legislative assemblies of some of our 
sister States have reached us now, or laiely, in response to our 
own former proceedings and resolves ; and have been referred 
to this Committee. Those cT ilie State of Indiana were trans- 
mitted at the late adjourned session — being a special one for 
the general revision of the laws — and may be deemed to have 
been postponed to the present, nol having been before printed ; 
and, having been recalled from the files, they will, with your per- 
mission form part of this report. The Committee accordingly 
refer to them with feelings of mingled gratitude and pride. 
These Resolves of Indiana are echoes of those of Ohio, for- 
merly received, which they recite ; and which likewise recited, 
in the spirit of that immortal ordinance upon which the original 
constitution of the whole North West Territory (once a single 
government) was framed, the grounds of our just territorial 
right, and the indefeasible character of our title to the soil of 
the State and nation. 

The Indiana Resolutions cherish the hope, that in the adjust- 
ment of this question of our national boundary, the integrity of 
our soil, and the national honor may be preserved inviolate, 
without an appeal to arms. They further express, that they 
highly approve the efforts made by the now late President of 
the United States to avert from the country the calamities of 
war. Yet ever preferring honorable war rather than dishonor- 
able peace, in case of unavoidable collision in settling the 
pending dispute, they join with Ohio in the declaration she had 
made, and the generous oblation of her whole means and 
resources to the authorities of the Union, in sustaining our 
rights and honor. 

The Resolutions of the General Assembly of Alabama, 
transmitted at the present session, in more guarded and meas- 
ured terms, declare it to be the solonin and imperative duty of 
9 



06 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [Marci 

the Federal Government faithfully to maintain every obligation 
it is under toward the State of Maine, touching the establish- 
ment of our North-Eastern Boundary line ; that the question 
is one not local in its character to this State, although this 
State is allowed to be more interested than any other in its 
adjustment, but that it concerns the whole Union ; that the 
Government is bound in defence of its own honor not to con- 
cede to Great Britain any claim not strictly founded in right 
and justice ; and that it is the duty of Maine to trust the decis- 
ion of the matter to the counsels of the Union and to abide 
thereby, whatever it may finally be, and whether exactly con- 
sistent with her own wishes, or not. They further declare, 
that they should deprecate a resort to force, until every honor- 
able peaceful exj)edient has been exhausted ; and while they 
are ready to go to war, if Congress so says, they should deeply 
regret to see the State of Maine take any rash step, which 
might tend to plunge her sister States into a war, more through 
sympathy and feeling on their part, than from any deliberate 
choice and determination. 

To the more advisory and admonitory tone of these Alabama 
Resolutions the Committee do not except ; though it is some- 
what more collected and grave than we have been accustomed 
to, in our painful condition, from our sister States. We may 
assent to their fitness, and be content with the assurance they 
contain ; and we may feel further all the force and propriety of 
the appeal. Yet, may we ask, what other State in the Union 
is there that could thus bear to see a district of its territory 
torn from its own possession, and held under the hostile flag of 
a foreign power — its citizens interrupted and harrassed in their 
peaceful pursuits — even those who bear the official signet of 
its authority, treated with violence and disgrace, and its dearest 
and most vital rights trampled upon, as those of Maine have 
been .' These wron!i;s may well be imagined to require all her 
patience, and to admit of much alleviation. Alabama, we may 
be sure, does not mean to add to all this sense of what this^ 



1841] SENATE.— No. 19. 67 

State has experienced and yet endures, the most distant idea, 
in any contingency or event, of being laid under the ban of the 
Union. 

To a people whose pursuits in Hfe are moral and peaceful, 
and which cherishes a deep sensibility to all the guilt and 
wretchedness of war, it may be easy to see that a profound 
conviction must be required of the purity and righteousness of 
a cause which could, by any possibility, be exposed for its 
vindication to so great a calamity. Nor is there any occasion 
to color or pourtray the consequences of such an alternative. It 
may well be admitted, that something more than the ordinary 
apology for even defensive war may be demanded in this 
advanced and enlightened age of humanity and civilization, and 
we will not hesitate to say, of religion also: one to be looked for 
only in the nature and circumstances of the case, such as must 
shew themselves in unsullied purity, and unblenching strength, 
so as to constitute an absolute justification in the moral view 
and judgment of mankind. If such may ever be found, it 
might surely be in the character of a conflict, to which a com- 
munity like ours might be subjected, in defence of what is 
nearest to our homes and hearths, of our dearest rights and 
native land — a strife to which we might be exposed to preserve 
the inheritance we received from our ancestors before the 
Revolution, and the patrimony bequeathed to us by the patriot- 
ism of our fathers in the war of Independence — a struggle to 
prevent the removal of our ancient land marks, and subvert- 
ing the very soil of our free institutions — points that are vital, 
let u& be allowed to say, to the very principles of our social 
existence and prosperity. Such a cause as this, if it cannot 
ensure protection, may at least escape reproach. 

Resolutions have just been received from Maryland, accom- 
panied by a Report of much merit from the pen of one who has 
had official opportunity to become acquainted with the subject, 
declaring the perfect conviction which the Legislature of that 
State entertains of the justice and validity of the nation and of 



68 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [March 

Maine to the full extent of all the territory in dispute ; and 
subjoining, that the Legislature of Maryland looks to the Fed- 
eral Government with entire reliance upon its disposition to 
bring the controversy to an amicable and speedy settlement ; 
but that if these efibrts should fail, the State of Maryland will 
cheerfully place herself in the support of the Federal Govern- 
ment, in what will then become its duty to itself and to the 
State of Maine. After the expression of such opinion and 
assurance, these Resolutions, say that the State of Maryland 
feels that it has a right to request this State to contribute, by 
all the means in its power, towards an amicable settlement of 
the dispute upon honorable terms ; and they volunteer a sug- 
gestion, respecting a reasonable mode of mutual accommoda- 
tion and adjustment, to which it strikes the minds of your 
Committee, that it will be time enough for Maine to attend, 
when it comes recommended to her consideration, as it would 
be, by tiie condition, with which it is connected, namely, that 
Great Britain should acknowledge the title of the State of 
Maine. 

The Committee were apprised, that Resolutions had been 
presented, together with the able and critical Report that has 
been alluded to, to the Legislature of Massachusetts ; and 
those Resolutions, accompanied by the Report, have been re- 
ceived and committed, in order to be acknowledged, while this 
Report was passing through the press. The Commonwealth 
has never failed, on any and every occasion, to testify her 
faithful interest in favor of those just rights, which we have 
derived through her, and with which her own continue to be so 
closely associated. If we had not henrd from her at this time, 
we should not have been left in any doubt of her disposition. 
But it is none the less satisfactory at this period, to be re- 
assured, that in her opinion, our right to require of Great 
Britain the literal and immediate execution of the terms of tbe 
original Treaty, relating to the boundary in question, remains, 
after more than half a century, unimpaired by the lapse of time 



1841.]' SENATP:— No. 19. 69 

or by the interposition of multiplied objections ; that although 
there may be no cause to apprehend any immediate collision 
upon this subject, it is extremely important that a speedy and 
effectual termination should be put to a diflerence which might, 
even by a remote possibility, produce consequences that hu- 
manity would deplore ; that any thing is to be regretted coming 
from Great Britain, of the character of the late Report/ made 
to that Government under its late commission of survey, (though 
not understood to have received its sanction) calculated to 
])roduce, where\er it is examined in the United States, a slate 
of the public mind unfavorable to that conciliatory temper and 
confidence in mutual good faith, without which it is hopeless to 
expect a satisfactory result to controversies of this nature ; that 
the interest and honor of Massachusetts alike demand a perse- 
verance, not the less determined, because it is temperate, in 
maintaining the rights of Maine ; that they now cheerfully re- 
peat their often recorded response to her demand, that the 
justice so long withheld should be speedily done her ; and that 
while they extend to her their sympathy for her past wrongs, 
they again assure her of their unshaken resolution to sustain 
the territorial rights of the Union. 

The Committee may, perhaps, deem themselves in some 
measure called upon, under the existing posture of circumstan- 
ces, not without some hesitation, to touch upon a point of some 
delicacy ; and which relates to the part this State may be in 
future required to perform in the further prosecution of this 
question, and in regard to bringing it to a determination. This 
point is presented, in the first place, by two distinct orders, 
one from the House of Representatives, and the other from 
the Senate, both referred to the immediate consideration of 
this Committee. The one requires the Executive authority of 
this State to be employed to expel the British force now quar- 
tered upon our territory ; the other proposes to invoke the 
constitutional obligation of the Federal Government, and to 
eall upon the National Executive for the prompt fulfilment of 



70 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [Marcb 

this duly. The ahernative presented by ihe forms of these 
different Legislative orders, dictated alike, as your Committee 
entirely believe, by the spirit of what was due, and even de- 
manded, to the occasion, brings directly into view the contin- 
uance — they would not say the competency or propriety — of 
that former course of action, which the State prescribed to 
itself, at those periods, which have been noticed, when the 
proper powers of the Federal Government appeared to be in 
abeyance as to us, if not abdicated here. And the Committee 
do imdoubtedly conceive that this State would be untrue to 
itself, insensible to its own character, interest, and honor, to 
renounce or repudiate the position in which it was involuntarily 
placed, or the principles which it pronounced, at any time, 
under the imperious necessity and duty imposed upon it of 
self protection. It would be forgetful of the illustrious ex- 
amples of virtue and patriotism, which were ever before the 
eyes of our cherished and lamented Lincoln, to disclaim the 
ground, or abandon the stand, which he so firmly and in- 
trepidly took upon this question, when its gulf was first opened 
before us, and he was called to contemplate and survey the 
sacrifice. Xeilhcr would we bury with him the principle, on 
which he acted. But we look upon it as having succeeded ; 
and that we are now enjoying the value and benefit of it in the 
elevated position to which the progress of it has raised and 
carried us in the estimation of Congress, the respect of the 
Government, and the confidence of the country. Your Com- 
mittee conceive and trust, that that point is now passed; a point 
ever intended to be taken and sustained in entire submission to 
the sense of the nation, and to be carried out only in subordi- 
nation to its supreme constitutional authority, whenever it did 
or shoiiid become necessary, that is to say, to resort to the 
original principle of self preservation, which is never to be re- 
curred to only when all other resource fails, and which Maine 
alone means to reserve for extreme emergency, or the last 
extremity. The immediate legitimate objects of that just and 



1841.1 SENATE.-No. 13 ti 

necessary course of proceeding on her part adopted by her 
Executive and Legislative counsels Maine is now disposed, 
your Committee apprehend, to regard and look upon as fulfilled. 
It has been fulfilled, so far certainly, at a great and enormous 
expense, and even sacrifice to her ; for which, as in performance 
of an important duty devolved upon her, in discharge of the 
public service, she is entitled, in return, to cast herself upon 
the just consideration of the Republic. Henceforth she con- 
ceives herself to have acquired a perfect right to rely on the 
strength as well as sympathy of the country, and upon the 
powerful arm of the National Government for vindication and 
support. That otherwise the object would not have been 
answered ; but its real and proper purpose would have failed. 
The remainder might be more than she is equal to ; but it would 
be ungrateful now that her cause has been so perfectly affiliated, 
and the country asks us to accept its solemn assurance, to pur- 
sue any other course at present ; and, as we value and cherish 
the pledge it has given us, not to be anxious to avoid anything 
to forfeit our title to its protection. 

In coming toward a conclusion of the subject of this Report 
and to the final consideration of the best course to be pursued, 
under the existing and actual state of circumstances, the Com- 
mittee can see no other than to adopt and stand upon the late 
Resolves of the preceding Legislatures ; that is to say, so far 
as they are not varied and altered, and accordingly required to 
be modified, by time and other circumstances, connected with 
the prolonged and pending state of negotiation. They can see 
no other course, they repeat, than to continue to call, still, upon 
the General Government to vindicate and maintain the rights of 
this State to its indisputable and indefeasible territory, by one 
of the two modes pointed out by the last Resolves. Gratitude 
towards that Government for what it has already done toward 
what it has solemnly promised, affection to our sister States 
who have come forward so freely and so cordially in our favor, 
the necessity, which disables us from coping single-handed with 



7« NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [March 

our real and formidable antagonist, and the Constitution which 
authorizes and requires us to cast the burden of our defence 
entirely upon the General Government — all these, combined 
with the consideration and remembrance of what is equally due 
to ourselves and mankind, under all these circumstances, direct, 
if they do not compel us to this course. We wish we could add 
that we had more confidence in the efiicacy of the means that 
have so far been adopted — we will not say those likely to be 
employed — and used to vindicate and establish those rights. 
We wish we could see an end to the perpetual course of pro- 
crastination, or any immediate prospect of the present negotia- 
tion being brought to a decisive or satisfactory termination. 
The committee are constrained to say, that they cannot. On 
the contrary they feel themselves obliged to agree in the opin- 
ion of his Excellency, the Governor of Massachusetts, in whom 
they know this State has always a fast friend upon this subject, 
that they do not see any disposition on the part of the British 
Government to determine it. 

The Committee are concerned to inquire, also, what is to 
be the state of the disputed territory in the mean time ; and 
especially of that portion of it lying northward of the St. John? 
And what is to be done for its protection, and the intermediate 
preservation of all the rights of the State to its property and 
jurisdiction? They inquire in vain. It is clear, that the State 
can enter into no compact with New Brunswick on the subject, 
even if the authority there had not passed into other hands. 
Such a thing is impossible. It is forbidden by the Constitu- 
tion, without the consent of Congress, which is not to be 
implied, nor even in the view of your Committee to be desired. 
If it were proper to listen to any suggestion of that nature, or 
to any proposition from that quarter, there is no power that 
can apparently be depended upon (though far from questionmg 
by any means the integrity of the disposition that exists) but 
there is none in New Brunswick that seems to be competent 
for the ful61inent of any such compact or assurance. Maine 



1S41.] SENATE.— No. 19. 73 

could not come into any agreement, such as was recommended 
to her, on that point. The objections to it, in her view, are insu- 
perable. Worse than the shackles, that might be thus imposed 
upon her, it might only prove a snare for her, and become an 
endless source of mischief and regret. She sees not, in any 
way, how she can go further on this subject, than she has al- 
ready done by her Resolves of 1S39 ; and that is, only, in the 
same earnest desire to come to an amicable adjustment of the 
whole controversy, to forbear to enforce her jurisdiction in 
that part of the territory which is now usurped by New Bruns- 
wick, so far as she can do so, consistently with the maintenance 
of her previous Resolves for the protection of the whole territo- 
ry against trespass and devastation. So far as, under this limited 
restraint, she is obliged to yield to the continuance of the ille- 
gal usurpation at the proper original settlement of Madawaska, 
so far she supposes she must submit to see the sphere of her 
own sovereignty circumscribed. But she cannot consent to 
see the space widened. She cannot allow its being extended 
to the Fish River, or upon the south bank of the St. John, 
above the western bend, up to which Maine has at least re- 
gained, and made good her ground. 

It is still less possible for this State to consent to any change 
in the character of that possession, from civil, as it was only 
pretended, to military ; and further still, to be content to see 
that change assume a permanent form ; in the first place, the 
whole district converted into a military depot, and then to take 
the more decided character of a military establishment. How 
long we are to remain in this condition, or how we are to be 
releived from it, we cannot say, except by pointing to our 
past Resolves, and putting our trust in the Government of the 
Union. All that we can say further, perhaps, at this moment, 
with propriety, is, that it cannot be submitted to with passive- 
ness, and that it cannot be submitted to, at any rate, much 
longer. The spirit, the patriotism, the self-respect, the native 
energy, the irrepressible and indomitable determination of the 
10 



74 NORTH-EASTERN BOUNDARY. [Marcb 

people of this State, will not endure it. They might sooner 
wish to see the territory sunk in the ocean, than to be made the 
scene of a bloody war, above all between the kindred and con- 
nected races ; but they cannot, silently, see it surrendered to a 
foreign power in this manner. They arc calumniated by the 
pretext, on which it is challenged. They demand, in advance, 
the protection of the Federal Constitution. They require that 
the invading force shall be removed ; and if this can only be 
effected by counter force, they request the Government of the 
United States, with no more delay, to cause possession of the 
disputed territory to be taken, by the suitable and necessary 
methods. 

But while the State thus makes these strong and urgent 
demands, it may be justly expected, that it will not, in any 
respect, or in any event, be wanting to itself. While it 
earnestly seeks, and wishes, to put itself under the broad shield 
of the General Government, and pray for the protecting power 
of the whole country, and solicits to be released from the 
incumbent duty and present heavy burden of its own defence, 
and desires to do this without retreating from the ground or 
relinquishing the stand it has hitherto been obliged to take, and 
does not ask to be released from its position, it well oifers to 
go as far as any of its sister States have done, and to place its 
whole powers and resources, without reserve, at the public 
disposal. We will consent to almost any sacrifice — we will 
pay any reasonable price for our own peace, and for that of 
the country ; and we are willing to purchase it upon the 
same terms, as " the tranquillity and safety of a camp are se- 
" cured by the sufferings and privations of its devoted exterior 
"outguards." Maine feels herself, unavoidably, to be the 
forjorn hope of the Union. As such she is ready to go for- 
ward, and to pursue the path that lies before her. As 
such she is prepared to occupy the pass to which she may be 
directed, to present her breast as a bulwark for the country — 
and of those of her brave and beloved sons, the self-devoted 



1841.] SENATE.— No. 19. 75 

band that shall be sent upon this service, to leave the writing 
upon the soil, in the best blood of the State, to tell the coun- 
try, and be carried back to the capital, that they lie there 

IN OBEDIENCE TO ITS LAWS. 

The Committee would now, respectfully, bring the perform- 
ance of this part of their service to a conclusion, by recom- 
mending the following Resolutions. 

By order of the Conmiittee. 

CHARLES S. DAVEIS. 
March 30, 1841. 



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